Chapter Text

Prologue

Infamous

Sometimes I ask myself. What do I want to do in life? Was it to steal rare, fossilized materials that happened to be over a million dollars or to locate a fancy looking gadget only to keep it to myself? Sounds menacing, I know, but did I really have a choice?

It was only 6 am in the morning. Thick fog was the only thing I could see in the sky. My heart raced and my legs were burning, aching and constantly in pain. The thirsty grass collected the crippling sweat that drippled down my face, begging for me to pour more. I tried keeping up the pace, but the air was so thin. 

Next bots, the last thing I wanted to date. Creepy png monsters that are capable of ripping human skins. Their sounds were wailing over my head, those terrible sounds, sounds that I wished I never had ears in the first place. Though there are many species of nextbots, I just got the worst one. The Yippee.... the fucking yippee. Out of all the nextbots, did I really need to be chased by one of these psychopaths? All I heard was the sound of cheering, Over and Over. Not only it's stuck in my head, but it was the sound of torture for my nerves. Finally, I took a sharp turn around the corner of the building to take a breath. Thankfully, the Yippee lost interest, letting me off the hook and went out for other human meat to feast on. 

"Are you there, Jard?"

Yet another sound that I had to bother with, the sound of the radar in my pocket. Exhausted, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the loud device. The pocket was large, at least for my black hoodie. I held my breath before placing the radar near my lips.

"Yes, I am here," I answered, "what the hell do you want?"

"Woah you sound tired. You okay, bud?" the voice replied in a concerned tone, "I will put the cola in the freezer for you when you come back, but just wandering how long do you need to survive in your current dimension,"

"Hold on, let me check," I said, temporarily cutting off the conversation.

I dropped the radar beside my legs as I reached into my other pocket. It was a special clock. I sometimes check it to see how long I need to survive the long torture of running around and evade the nextbots. The numbers were glowing bright green and a countdown was near its end. I immediately picked up the radar once more.

"About 30 seconds before the material is revealed," I commented.

"Great!" he said in a joyful tone, "just hang in there, Jard,"

The connection was interrupted by an eerie sound of cheer. That sound, the last thing I ever want to hear before this expedition ends. With fear in my head and heart, I peeked over the side of the abandoned building. The yippee was back, ready to shred me into pieces. 

"SHIT"

I reached into another packet of cola as I picked up the pace of my speed. The cola was extremely fizzy, it burns in every corner of my mouth. My energy was back and running, but it wasn't enough to keep me at this pace for too long. 

The countdown reached zero. The ground shook as the yippee backed away from me before returning to the foggy forest, back to where it belongs. A triangular artifact levitated upon the pedestal. Its shiny bronze texture caught my eye as I felt its ominous energy travelling down my spine. It was perfect. I slowly walked up to the ancient treasure as my fingers carefully wraps around the scratchy and old texture. It was the bronze teleporter, which is worth about 60 points on the market. I smiled, another day to live and another mission successful. I opened my bag and placed the item into my bag.

It wasn't long before I heard someone else.

"HEY, YOU!"

I turned around and fear completely filled my head. It was the Elysium Cooperation group. The leader of the group walked through the large crowd and met his eyes on mine.

"Well, it's no surprise that we meet again, Jard," he smiled warmly, "the cooperation missed you and your vast knowledge of navigation so much,"

From the bottom of my heart, it was a trick. The leader returned to his straight face with a mixture of loss and disappointment.

"Unfortunately, we weren't expecting you to snatch another artifact from us," he said ominously, "No wonder you had to steal from our cooperation,"

"Well, if it's unprotected then I can snatch it," I rebuttal, "and once I have it, then it belongs to me!"

The group of people behind him raised their guns at me, but the leader held his hand, holding the ambush of bullets.

"Jard, we can make a deal," he continued, "you give us that bronze teleporter and return to us as our best navigator, we will drop every charge against you,"

The deal sounds extremely tempting. I am currently in debt, with nothing but stealing to support my apartment taxes and college bills. Again, I would never know what that organization would do to me when I gave in. As a response, I ran across the grassfields, avoiding looking back at the group.

Sounds of bullets began. The explosive echos of guns fed my fears as I tried my best to evade them. Finally, I managed to hide into a corner as I began the process of teleportation. Before I fade away from this hell dimension, a sharp pain extruded from my left shoulder. I could feel the red liquid dripping from my shoulder as a drop of blood dripped into my right hand. In immediate reaction, I clenched the wound with my right hand in attempt to prevent the mass bleeding. Even by touch, it stung as much as I poured liquid on my shoulder.

Finally, the process was finished as a portal opened in front of me. Without hesitation, I leaped into the portal before it closed behind me. It was all over.

The streets were empty. The lights were shining brightly in my face as I was greeted by the sound of the lightly pouring rain. The apartments around me were wearing away from the corrosion of the concentrated air. This place was the only place where I consider myself to be at home.

In front of me there was a small shop, it's usually busy during the days. Its stuff in there is hella expensive, but it was treasured with many artifacts and items that could be sold for over $1000. Because of that, we usually run out of items, requiring someone to look for the artifacts and putting it on the shop the next day. That's when I come in.

"Well, it looks like you did it, Jard!" the man said as he stood over me.

Ignoring the agonizing pain, I lift my head to see the person who foreshadows over me. It was nothing other than Galf, the manager of this little shop.

Chapter Text

Chapter 1

The Little Shop

"Man, how did you get hurt this badly?"

I was lying on my back on Galf's bed. It was nothing fancy, only a frame with a comfortable mattress. For half an hour, I had spent most of my time staring at the ceiling, counting the many cracks that had been nearly stained on the smooth roof. Cracks were not the only one that decorated Galf's ceiling like a pizza, mold were like the second main topping of the 'pizza'. 

I slowly sat up from my resting position before being greeted with a sharp pinch. The pain from my shoulder never left me. I could feel the bullet lurking into my muscles every time I tense it. Iron, red liquid dripped onto the wooden oak floor as Galf turned towards me with a clean, wet towel.

"Alright, I want you to hold that wound with this towel," Galf said with a soft smile, "I will get the bandages when I find them,"

Carefully, I clenched the wound with the soggy material. I held back every scream that were about to come out of my mouth. After a while, Galf came back with tweezers and a roll of yellow bandages. The metal tweezers were intimidating, the metal texture reflected the fear of my eyes. 

"Jard, remove the towel,"

Not keen, but eager to get out of this hell hole, I dragged the towel away from my skin. Though its condition was much better after the material was applied, I could still feel the metal coat of that fucking bullet in the area. Galf took a deep breath in.

"Try not to scream too loud,"

"Wait what,"

Galf, out of nowhere nor empathy, dug his tweezers right into my skin where the wound was. My immediate reaction was to scream until my head rolls onto the floor. 

"FUCK!"

I could feel the tweezers digging deeper and deeper into my pale skin as I screeched every at movement. Finally, the splitting pain stopped as Galf puts an item onto the metal tray beside him. It was the bullet. He gently removed the tweezers before patching the injury with a nice, coated bandage. Although the bandage spiked a bit of pain receptors from my shoulder, it suddenly settled down comfortably.

Without a word, Galf walked towards my bag before pulling out the bronze teleporter that had been waiting for his collection. I could hear his footsteps roaming through the wooden floor as he placed the teleporter onto his inspection table. Grabbing his magnifying glass, he closely inspects the ancient artifact while clicking his tongue.

"Such a beautiful Bronze Teleporter," Galf cut the silence as he looked at me, "I would say it's worth around 60 points on the Daily market,"

I knew it.

"Yeah, probably by luck from the pedestal," I said with a meek smile, "usually I was greeted with a bunch of common stuff like a green barrier or a simple mask,"

"Yes, it is a surprise to get something this rare off the bat,"

Galf puts his magnifying glass away before walking towards the counter. He opened the counter as his fingers crawled into the slots. 

"And because of that, $2000 is yours,"

My expression lit up as he handed me the batch of notes. In normal trips in the dimension, $900 was the reward limit. However, this day was my lucky day. $2000? I could buy a normal microwave with this much money if I wanted to. I eagerly took the patch.

"Thank you so much, Galf," I said.

Galf hugged me as a reaction. I've got to admit, it was the first time I smiled through a tough and tiring day. I'm guessing he was happy to see me smiling again. A smile after debt took my life away. Galf backed away as he grabbed the bronze teleporter and placed it on the pedestal in his shop, marking the item for 60 points. 

"Jard, the colas' in the fridge,"

"Right, thanks,"

I grabbed a couple of colas from the freezer before I left the shop. Giving a short wave to my only best friend.

"Oh yeah, one more thing!" Galf spoke before I disappeared into the streets, "next expedition, don't go too hard on yourself. Your shoulder still needs a few days to recover,"

"Don't worry! I won't!"

I was all alone again. My footsteps echoed every wall of the small, stoned buildings. It probably rained during my expedition as the stoned pathways were coated with damped rainwater. The lights flickered as I roamed through the empty hallway. The small food market, a place that would be open for God knows how long, was my second savior. I entered through the glass door before picking out my late-night dinner. The shop was nothing special, it was stocked with scrapped food like sausage rolls, small party pies and cup of noodles. I walked into the food aisle before reaching my hands on both the chicken and beef flavored cup noodles. Thanks to the heap of money that Galf gave me, it was enough to last me a couple of weeks, months even. With no hesitation, I grabbed two beef cup noodles and two chicken cup noodles. I placed the items at the counter as the shopkeeper scanned the four cups.

"That would be $20 for those, sir," he spoke.

I placed down two $10 bills for the pay. He took the money and placed it into his counter. Of course, I would have robbed this store, but why would I? This place is like heaven to me. The shopkeeper raised his eyebrow.

"Well, hello, Jard," he said, "Never expecting you to be this excited,"

"Yeah, I know," I responded, "I just finally have enough money to pay the bills for my apartment for at least another month. At least repay a few college tuitions,"

"That must be exciting news for you," he said with a smile before putting the noodles in a bag and handing them to me, "Welp, have a nice rest!"

"Thank you, shop keeper!"

It wasn't long before I could find my apartment. The hallway was cramped, not much breathing room for the walls and my shoulders. Finally, I was met with the entrance to my room. I dug into my pocket for the small key. I unlocked the door before opening to a small room. It was nothing special or as special as Galf's medical room. It was only a mattress with a scruffy, old blanket. I walked towards the table in the corner of the room before putting the cup of noodles into the small cupboard. It was the first time that small cabinet is filled with food. I grabbed out the chicken flavored noodles before ripping the seal off. My fingers wrapped around the handle of the boiling kettle as I poured the boiling water into the small cup. After a few minutes, the noodles were ready.

Oh, the smell of the noodles brightened me. The taste of the delicious apartment delicacy was touched by my tongue. The wonderful smell filled the small room. It made me stop worrying about everything else. From my unpaid tuitions to the struggle of living in this apartment. 

Finally, it was bedtime. Sometimes I wonder, where do the dimensions come from and how were the artifacts manifold the area. Those were questions that had been hovering around my head when I was seconds to falling asleep. Maybe it's a question I might answer tomorrow. I closed my eyes before drifting off to a magical place.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2

Bobo

It's midday and it is time for work. I put on my dark grey cap before turning it backwards, letting the shaded part stick at the back of my head. I packed two large stocks of colas in my backpack before rushing out the door, running towards Galf's shop for my first mission of the day. The streets were dried up. The Sun beat down the back of my neck as I turned to a small corner to the small shop. Galf was waiting outside with a small smile on his face, he expected me to be this early for the job.

"Morning, Jard!" Galf greeted, "Or should I say, 'Midday'?"

"Yeah, yeah," I answered, "I work in the afternoons,"

"Great! Now your next mission is to the Jungle," he continued as he walks back into his shop, "I heard that an artifact is going to spawn in about 5 minutes," 

"The jungle?" I repeated, "haven't I done that a few days ago?"

"Correct, but I guess it's spawning there again," Galf sighed as he looks at his billboard, "Oh, by the way, there are going to be a lot of people there,"

My eyes lit up from the statement.

"People?" I said in curiosity, "in a complete different dimension?!"

"That's correct," Galf said as he placed his hands on both of my shoulders, "just don't trust anybody, there are people out there that could be a wolf dressed in sheep's clothing-"

"OW, FUCK!"

It was the pain from the bandages yesterday. Now I could think of nothing, but the way Galf plucked that damn bullet out of my skin. Galf immediately pulled back from my reaction, his hands lifting from both of my shoulders.

"Oh, my goodness, I'm so sorry I forgotten that you were previously injured," he apologized.

"It's alright," I said.

"Ah, yes. Let's get to work," Galf said as he gave me the dimension button, "good luck, Jard!"

"I'll be back when I live!" I said jokingly as I stepped into the portal.

"And don't forget to eat the vegetables I packed for you!"

"GA-"

Before I could respond, the portal closed in from the barriers between me and Galf. God dammit, Galf! God dammit, mother bloody Galf. Thanks for embarrassing me in front of millions of people who are probably watching me do stupid things every time I speak...

.... Wait fuck I broke the fourth wall.

(A/N Dammit, Jard-....)

I opened my bag to check if Galf actually packed vegetables into my bag. After looking into my storage, I was relieved to find he was only joking. I was relieved that I do not need to eat a carrot while a blood-sucking nextbot chase me in every corner of the dimension.

The jungle dimension was probably much more exotic than the artifact itself. The area was concentrated by thick grey fog. All buildings in this place are either collapsed or being eroded away while parasitic moss replaced its missing cracks. The grass was lushful, but dead, with only the trees watching it slowly die.

Galf was right, there is a lot of people here. I ran to the top of the ancient half-eroded pyramid and headcount the small crowd. There is about 12 people roaming around the area, confused of where they are. Assuming by their crying, groaning and loud complaints, I don't think they were expected to be here. Questions flooded my mind. How did they get here in such a miserable place? Who are they and who sent them here? Did the Elysium had something to do with this horrible treatment?

I checked the clock again. About 2 minutes and 15 seconds, the nextbots would spawn in the next 15 seconds. Once again, I dug into my bag before pulling out another can of cola and shoving it in my left pocket, just in case if the nextbot is fast as heck.

---

1 minute on the clock and I am still being chased by a hungry nerd emoji for the past 30 seconds. The newcomers are either stupid as fuck or they do not understand how nextbots work. Every time I tried running away from the devious monster, at least one person had to collide with me and make their escape from the nextbot my problem. It hasn't been a single minute and I already drowned myself in 6 colas. If those Elysium creeps abandon these people out here, they probably sent out the worst people to do it. 

It was quiet all of the sudden. I looked back to see if the nerd emoji was still following me. It wasn't. It must have been one of those people who had led that thing away from me. Thank goodness.

"Thank freaking goodness," I sighed as I rest my hand over my knees, taking a huge breath from all that running.

Unfortunately, that caught me off guard. As the nextbot noise gradually become louder and louder. A person zoomed past me. They seemed to have a pale peach skin with sleeveless blue shirt and a light blue hat. 

Before I could react or move a muscle, it was too late. The nerd emoji collided with my body. I could feel my bones cracking inside of this tired husk. I tried to yell for help, but it only came out as silent words. White noise filled my ears, overwhelming the background sounds of running. I collapsed to my knees before my body hugged the dirty ground. My focus waved goodbye to me as my vision gradually impaired. The last thought that processed was that I knew I blacked out.

---

"Hello? Are you there?"

"Can you hear me?"

"..."

"Wake up!"

My eyes slowly opened as I saw a small boy crouching over my possibly dead body. I was surprised that I could freely move my arm. I thought it was broken from the impact of that nextbot? I managed to get to my feet before slowly getting up. There wasn't a single pain at all, what is going on? I looked down to get a better vision of the boy. That was him, he was the one who almost got me killed.

"Thank goodness, you are okay sir!" he answered as he lightly grabbed my arm, "the nextbot did real bad damage on you, I was worried!"

I could not do anything but look at him. 

"How long had I need knocked out?" I asked him politely.

"I think about 45 seconds," he answered, "why?"

"So, 15 seconds left before I could get that artifact!" I said, running towards the center.

The pedestal rose from the ground after a while. I was waiting patiently as the nerd emoji, just like the Yippee, ran into the forest, fearing the ancient artifact. I saw portals opening around the pyramid to a familiar dimension. The Elysium Tower. I knew the company had something to do with this.

The artifact revealed itself to the dimension. Its glowing orange neon visor lightly blinded me, after all I was in the darkness for so long. It was the orange neon shades, I don't know how much it is worth, but it's probably not as rare as the bronze teleporter. 

"Mister, what's your name?"

I turned around to see who was speaking to me. It was the same boy from before.

"I'm Bobo, by the way!" he smiled.

I remembered what Galf said to me before I left into this expedition. It was to never trust anybody else expect for my instincts. But should I really tell this boy who I am? What if he was working for the Elysium just like the other 11 people?

"I-I'm Jard," I stuttered as I shoved the neon shades into my backpack.

"Jard? That's such a cool name!" Bobo shouted in excitement, "everyone else in the group has boring names, but I had never heard of you before!"

"Keep your voice down! They are going to be here!"

"Who's they?"

A group of Elysium staff members appeared from the portal as he started climbing the giant pyramid. They were after the "artifact". I grabbed Bobo's hand before running into one of the other abandoned buildings. The staff finally reached the top, before realizing the artifact that they were going for, had gone missing into my hands. One of them picked up a radar before speaking to God knows who.

"It looks like the artifact already has been taken," they said as the other staff searched through the area, "we assume that either that interdimensional navigator got here before us or those group of rebels robbed it away,"

Interdimensional navigator? Were they talking about me? Another question, who on earth are the rebels? Another group who was after the artifacts? Without wasting any more time, I opened the portal back into Galf's shop.

"Ooo, where does that go to,"

Aurgh! Why hasn't Bobo gone with the others yet?! I felt bad for him because the Elysium probably treated him badly, but I don't want to abduct a child! Bobo's loud voice was enough to notify every staff member my location.

"THERE HE IS! GET HIM!"

I quickly grabbed Bobo's hand before running into the portal. I panted in exhaustion as a figure appeared in front of me. Galf.

"Jard, are we kidnapping children now?" he said, raising his eyebrow.

Chapter Text

Chapter 3

The Rebels

"Ughh... No, NO!" I answered as I let go of Bobo's hand, "Galf, this isn't what it looks like?"

Galf could do nothing but stand there, watching Bobo curiously look around his tiny shop. He quietly stood in front of the bronze teleporter, admiring its lustrous bronze color and smooth texture. 

"Woah, you actually got the bronze teleporter?" Bobo spoke, looking at me with starry eyes, "you did this all alone?"

"Well, yeah," I nervously answered, "I just go around different dimensions and find them every once in a while,"

"That is so cool!" he screamed as he ran around the shop and inspect the other artifact that I had either found or stolen. 

"No running, please!" Galf said as he cleaned the mugs, "anyway, Jard, what did you have this time,"

I reached into my backpack and pulled out the neon shades from the Jungle's artifact pedestal. It seemed to be glowing brightly, painting my hand with its neon orange light. Galf grabbed his magnifying glass before closely inspecting the mysterious cosmetic artifact. He finally looked up to me, meeting his eyes with mine.

"It seems to be the orange neon shades," he replied, "I'm assuming they are worth around 35 points," 

I was pretty upset; they were barely even worth a three-quarters as much as the last artifact I had found. Galf walked towards the counter before counting the notes he was about to repay me.

"Although it wasn't as much as the last one, an artifact is still an artifact," he said, dumping a couple of notes into my hands, "that is around $1050,"

Hey, the pay wasn't that bad. I watched Galf grabbing the shades and placing them right beside the bronze teleporter. Bobo got a stool, standing on it to see the shade's glowing orange magic into his eyes.

"Mr. Shopkeeper," Bobo asked as Galf looked up, "what are these artifacts used for?"

"Glad you asked," Galf answered as he picked up Bobo from the stool and placing him back onto the floor, "you see, Jard and I work as a team in this shop. I sell the artifacts for points and money and Jard goes out to refill the stock with much more interesting items,"

"I see," the small child understood as he sat down on the stool, "so, you two are the rebels?"

"Who the fuck are the rebels?" I asked before Galf punched me in the shoulder... where the injury is again, "OUCH!"

"Jard! Language!" Galf harshly commented as he smiled at Bobo, "sorry, but we do not work for the rebels. Do you mind if you could explain?"

"Happy to do so!" Bobo said as he stood up from his sitting position. I am assuming he did that so we could hear him clearly.

I swallowed every information that he had said. Some of the words in his long speech choked me every second. The rebels, people who were also going after the artifacts that spawn every round in a dimension, are violent people who will not hesitate to shoot anybody in its path. Their presence scares the nextbots, forcing them to hide in their tiny burrows. At this point, I felt bad for the Yippee or the Nerd Emoji who might tried appearing in these monster's paths. I don't usually feel empathy for a nextbot. Not those blood sucking monsters.

"The rebels you say?" Galf repeated in curiosity as he grabbed out a thick book from his shelf, "you mean those group of people who go against the rules of the Elysium?"

"I think so," Bobo answered, but by the look on his face, I knew he knows it is true. 

God dammit why does everything have to link with the Elysium company?!

"I see what you mean," Galf understood as he looked towards me, "if you want to know, they are also known as the rebellion group. A group of people who refuse to follow the law. For many years, I heard that they take down many men who tried to snatch the artifact away from them. So, you might have a chance that you cross paths. Be careful though, I had researched that they use bullets that can easily pierce through metal walls,"

I blinked. Now that's one of my reasons why I didn't want to do an expedition where there is a lot of people in that dimension. I had no choice, but to risk every dimension with huge amounts of people in it, just to snatch an artifact to keep my life afloat. Bobo grabbed my arm tightly.

"Mister, I could go with Jard when they did manage to shoot him down," he said, "at the Elysium I was taught basic first-aid skills,"

"Are you sure? The expeditions are usually dangerous, especially for children just like you," Galf said with a worried face.

"I'm not a child, I'm 15,"

"That is still considered a child, Bobo," I sarcastically replied, rolling my eyes.

"Whatever..."

I looked at the $1050 stash that Galf payed me. I was surprised how much those neon shades worth, I originally predicted that artifact was worth around $600 or $900. This got me thinking, now that Bobo is in how dimension, where was he going to live? Who was going to look after him? Do I really need to share my tiny apartment with him? Galf looked deeply in my eyes, knowing exactly what I was thinking.

"You don't need to worry about it, Jard," he smiled, "I will take care of Bobo for you. In the meantime, he will help you during your interdimensional travels for your expeditions,"

"Yay!" Bobo cheered as he hugged Galf, "thank you, Mr. Shopkeeper,"

"Call me Galf," he softly responded, "I will show you the way to your bedroom, it's a spare room that I was hoping a guest might stay,"

We walked into the tiny hallway of the shop as Galf opened the door to Bobo's new bedroom. It was as scruffy as my apartment, but it has a small, comfy bed with a brown quilted blanket. There was a small empty shelf that was built with shiny dark oak and on top of the shelf was a small snow globe, representing the beginning of Christmas Eve. Honestly, this room would be suitable for me if I was 10 years younger.

"Sorry if the room looks a bit old and molded away," Galf sighed, "but I hope you might find the bed a bit comfy,"

Bobo's face was shocked. His eyes were as wide as dinner plates and words were brutally held back from his mouth. All of the sudden, a small explosion inside of him happened, he was happier than I could ever imagined.

"I LOVE IT!" he screamed, jumping on the bed, "I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT!!!"

"I'm glad you liked it," Galf said, pleased by his enthusiasm. 

I looked at the clock before turning to Galf. 

"In about 3 hours, another artifact will appear at Four Corners," I said, "what should I do now?"

"I don't know, do whatever you want," Galf said as he leaves Bobo's room, "don't forget to bring Bobo with you, I don't want you severely injured from the nextbots,"

Chapter Text

Chapter 4

Clever Cosmetic

It was finally the time to do our next expedition and probably my least favorite excursion, the four corners. I think we all heard of the game, Mario Kart 8 where you could select many different courses. I'm assuming you lot know the map 'Baby Park' where the road leads to an endless loop of bumping into other players who are actually not in front of you. Welp, sadly it's the same thing for Four Corners. Don't get me wrong, I liked the dimension and can easily evade the nextbots without much effort. However, whenever there is a dump load of people in that dimension, an effortless trip would become much harder than looking after a 5-year-old. So why am I telling you all of this time? You guessed it....

"Jard, the expedition is going to be like the last one, there are going to be a lot of people in it!" Galf said as Bobo burst out of his room like mentos deliberately being thrown into coke.

"Are we going now?" Bobo said with excitement.

"Yes, we are," I sighed as I grabbed my empty bag, "we are going to the Four Corners with a bunch of other people in it. Just don't get lost," 

"I won't get lost," Bobo snorted as he gets his blue hat.

Galf goes to his billboard before looking at his information on the Four Corners. Although he has never been on a single trip outside his shop, he had known many small details to each dimension I had travel in. You may not know, but there is a radar stuck to my backpack which allows Galf to track my location and routes in the dimension. Again, this method wasn't always effective, less often I visit the dimension, the harder for me to make it out. 

"Four Corners is a very interesting dimension," Galf said as he turned around towards me and Bobo, "the map only consists of a single path that connects and a long hallway with a dead end. I suggest you try running in circles around the map and keep as much distance from anybody else as possible,"

"Got it," I answered, "ready, Bobo?"

"..."

"Bobo?"

I looked outside to find Bobo dancing around in the streets while chasing a small blue butterfly. What is he even doing?!

"Bobo! We are going soon, hurry up!" I yelled as Bobo stopped to his feet and looked at me with a wide smile.

"Coming!"

We were set up. I grabbed my cap once more before placing it, turning it backwards. Galf nodded at both of us, for the signal of the next round.

"You two have 5 minutes and thirty seconds, which is plenty of time to construct a plan to survive! Good luck!" Galf announced as a portal opened behind Bobo.

"Yay! Let's go!" Bobo said before turning around.

"Oh, and one more thing, Bobo," Galf interrupted, "this is for you," 

Galf chucked a heavy white bag into Bobo's hand. It has a smooth texture as its plastic case could easily handle a massive punch. Confused, Bobo knocked the cover that has a massive red cross symbol on it before looking back at Galf.

"What is this?" he asked.

"That's a med kit!" Galf answered before returning to the counter, "it has every first-aid kit you need; therefore, you can help Jard faster whenever he gets injured,"

"Come on, Galf! Just because I almost died once doesn't mean I can easily die again!" I sighed.

Galf could do nothing but shrug in response.

"Welp, it's just in case Jard," he answered with a light tone, "When you die, you die!"

I facepalmed in silence as Bobo pointed at me, laughing at my previous embarrassment. It was finally time to go. I took a step into the portal before the area around me went white. We had arrived at Four Corners, probably the most boring dimension I had ever been in. Sometimes it confuses me who lives here. Again, I heard there are going to be many people. I had to be careful I don't get caught in that nextbot chase. 

Bobo was behind me, lurking in the shadows. I was scared for a second before I notice it was him. He was wearing that small med kit bag Galf gave him. It wasn't long before I heard a presentation like speech. It only goes on and on, rambling about something with the stolen artifact? Surely those people are not talking about me, right? Bobo as curious as I am.

"What was those noises?" Bobo asked.

"I'm not sure," I responded, "we should go and investigate, it might be something important,"

We creeped behind the corner from where the noise was from. My expression melted into a guilt and nervous energy when I saw who they were. It was the Elysium staff, with a group of other survivors. There was no mystery on what they are talking about.

"In our Elysium Cooperation, it would be appreciated to track this man down," one of the staff members said, pointing at a large photo, "if you have seen the interdimensional navigator, bring him to us,"

I watched the survivors as they whispered to themselves about the appearance of the 'culprit'. That photo was me. In fact, taken when I was working with the cooperation themselves. I wish I could erase it in a blink of an eye, that photo is fucking ugly. Bobo understood every word.

"In addition to help us catching this thief, the reward would be $50000," the staff continued.

Now I am in big trouble. Not only a pack of mobs want me dead, but I would be manhunted until I either die or hand myself in. This is probably the worst time to be handing myself in anyway.

"I got an idea," Bobo whispered as he dug into my backpack.

"Bobo? What are you doing?!"

He pulled out an Aviator Helmet. It seems extremely identical to the one I stole from the Icebreaker a few months ago. Did he just steal it from Galf's shop and purposely put it in my bag?

"How did you get that?" I asked.

"Oh, I bought it from Galf!" he answered, "It was a while ago ever since I owned it, so I put it in your bag just in case,"

"Well, that isn't really helping much at this current situation-"

I was cut off by Bobo, who took off my black cap and replaced it with the huge baggy hat. Not only it feels itchy, but its odor stunk. Before I could respond in reaction, Bobo dragged the goggles onto my face, everything slightly turned blue.

"Believe me, this should work," he smiled as the survivors started to separate, "a lot of people recognize you by your black cap since you wear it every time you travel, so wearing something different would cheat the system,"

"That sounds ridiculous, Bobo! It won't work!" I hissed, "also that's my hat!"

I tried snatching my cap back from Bobo's hand, only for him to evade my hands from touching my personal belonging. There was a sudden spoken voice from behind us.

"Excuse me,"

I froze as Bobo hid my hat behind his back. My heart pounded. I am dead, I was caught by a random survivor, and it wasn't even the time that the nextbots would spawn. I am going to be kidnapped, been hand off to a psychopathic company and I don't even know what they are going to do to me, probably shoot me down like the last attempt I saw that stupid leader's face. 

"You just got here, right?" the survivor asked as he lifted a picture of me at my face, "there is this man around here that is a thief. If you find him, can you please report it to the staff?"

Oh... I guess he fell for the disguise. But you don't really need to show that picture in my face again!

"Uh, sure! I'll try find him during my survival," I answered sheepishly.

"Alright! Thanks for your help!" they waved as they left for his group.

Bobo shoved my cap into my backpack before fist bumping me on the other shoulder.

"I told you it works!" he said, giving me a small smile.

"Shut up..."

Honestly though, that was indeed a clever disguise and plan. At this point, I didn't know if I want to thank Bobo for coming up with this idea or Galf who was the one who sold this cosmetic to him in the first place. Either way, I think we should easily get the artifact while slipping by under the Elysium Cooperation's radar.

Chapter Text

Chapter 5

Sugar Rush

Even though I had been through the Four Corners many times to get the artifacts, often times I am confused on where the artifact appears. Usually there is a particular spot in a dimension that is easily recognizable to predict where the artifact was going to be. However, Four Corners was like a hallway of doors, not knowing which corner would contain the prize. It was going to take a while to get back to Galf's shop, even after all the effort from evading the nextbots. I checked the clock, about a minute and a half before the artifact is revealed. After that, I can finally take off this stupid hat, I've already missed my cap. 

With a huge sigh, I grabbed another can of cola from my pocket and opening it, letting out a fizz from the escaping carbon gas. With about 10 extra people being chased by the nextbot about there, I can finally relax and chill in the long hallway where almost nobody could find me. I brought the can to my lips.

"Jard! That was your 11th cola! That's enough!"

Bobo dragged my arm downwards, pulling the drink away from my mouth. I missed out on my relaxing drink.

"Why did you do that?" I asked with a slightly pissed expression on my face.

"You drowned yourself on too many colas," Bobo answered, trying to take the drink out of my hands, "besides! We are here to take the artifact! Not to sit down in a corner and relax,"

I had no idea where Bobo's persistence came from, probably from the fact I drank more colas than I am supposed to be drinking. I got to admit, I do have an addiction to these things, but it's seriously hard to get over it. 

"Bobo, just one more cola-" I pleaded as I lift my arm again to drink the sweet solvent.

"No, Jard!" Bobo said harshly, "Enough is enough!"

It was too late, the fizzy liquid slid down my throat. The sugar punched my taste buds, sending out happy signals to my nerves. My frown disappeared completely as I felt corners of my mouth. A feeling of hyperactivity washed over me. Bobo watched the unusual energy unfold.

"Is everything alright there?"

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

My legs sprinted around in single circle with uncontrollable manner. My eyes bulged like plates as adrenaline took over my entire body. I was barely aware of my surroundings and letting my legs take me wherever they would take me. It was like a free luxury drive, in this small world I travelled everywhere. It felt like I was riding a horse in Candyland. The overwhelming smell of the cola was like a dream. Every second my body felt like picking up more inches of speed, accelerating faster than it could handle. It was like an enjoyable anesthetic, where I could imagine myself to be anywhere in the world.

"FUCK YEAH!!!!" I screamed in the top of my lungs, "I COULD GO ON AND ON LIKE THIS FOREVER!"

Suddenly, a pain stung on my left cheek. Someone smacked me in the face. I blinked in confusion as I pieced out the current situation. As I slowly gained consciousness, I saw Bobo with a straight face. Although he had seen me horsing around too much, he still kept an odd smile. However, it wasn't like any other smiles. It wasn't those soft smiles Galf flashes, but those 'disappointment' smiles. Was I really that silly that much?

"Dude, were you okay?" Bobo asked me in concerned, still putting a smile on his face, "you went into a sugar rush? Didn't you?"

I guess I kind of did. I wasn't fully conscious on what I was saying, I was completely drawn into the mood of being in Candyland from far away. Trying to regain my senses, I looked at Bobo and opened my mouth to ask a question.

"Well, uhm... What was I saying?" I asked.

"I'm about to ask the same question," Bobo responded with a shrug, his face twisted in curiosity and confusion, "though, you were talking about something about Rose. Do you have a crush on her or something?"

Oops...

"Well, I used to when I was working for the Elysium Corporation," I answered meekly, hoping that Bobo didn't think of it in the wrong way, "but after she disappeared, I didn't really find anybody attractive anymore,"

"So, you do have a crush on her!" Bobo repeated.

"Okay, but I don't now!" I said forcefully, making Bobo laugh, "can we please just forget about this?"

"Alright! I'm just playing with you!"

I looked at the clock. Shit... 10 seconds before the artifact is revealed, I must've dozed off from the sugar rush previously. I grabbed Bobo before running out of the hallway.

"We are late! We have to go now!"

The hallway seems long as I tried to keep track of the left-over time in my head. As soon as we reached the loop of the Four Corners, there was a large crowd of people surrounding a single pedestal. A staff was standing near the pedestal, fixing their eyes upon a small black box with special effects covering its true colors. 

"We thank you for helping us reach to this far," the leader announced as he looked at the audience, "the interdimensional navigator is nowhere to be found, so now we have our hands on this unique box!"

I was too late, I knew I would have joined the other 10 people, running around and finding the pedestal. The leader smiled and began wrapping his hands around the box. 

"We have to do something, Jard!" Bobo said in concern, "at least check something useful in your huge pockets! Or your backpack?"

I checked my pocket again. It was the cola, the last cola for the trip. If I wanted to snatch that artifact before they could, then this would be my last chance. I opened the lid, drowning myself into my 13th cola for the expedition. With my last hope, I ran towards the pedestal. I felt myself picking up speed, just as if I am in conscious sugar rush. As quick as a kookaburra, I grabbed the mysterious box, snatching it out of spite and preventing the leader from even laying a finger on the box. 

I did it... I got the box! Maybe cola wasn't bad for me after all!

The leader realized the sudden disappearance of the box. He looked around in confusion before spotting me holding the small box. That was when my goggles broke, snapping away from my face, revealing my recognizable face. The leader immediately pieced together the situation.

"THAT'S HIM!" he yelled, pointing at me.

Crowd of survivors whispered. In a sudden panic, I ran around the crowd, grabbing Bobo's arm and make a final attempt to flee the scene. Great, now a crowd of adults are chasing the both of us. At this situation, I'm already in a panic. I grabbed out my radar and turned it on.

"GALF! HELP US!" I yelled into the device.

"Wh-what?" Galf muttered, it looked as if he just woken up, "you're in danger? Oh, alright, give me a second!"

Seconds later, the portal opened up with Galf standing in front of it. His face shaped in shock when he saw Bobo and I running away from a pack of survivors like a rhinoceros chase. I jumped into the portal to the other side with my occupied hand dangling Bobo on the ground. He was oddly still smiling even in this mad chase. I turned to Galf.

"CLOSE THE PORTAL!"

I watched as the survivors got closer... and closer. Galf was walking towards the settings room as my hands were close to the panic button.

"GALF! CLOSE THE FUCKING PORTAL!"

At the very last second, the portal closed off from the Four Corners and the former dimension. I took a massive breath from the unexpected run, dropping Bobo's arm as he stared at the shop's ceiling. Galf walked towards me and observed the box I was holding.

"No way... Did you actually find that during the Four Corner's expedition?" he asked me, with a surprised expression.

"Oh, this ugly box?" I said sarcastically as I stood up straight, "yeah? What's so special about it?"

Galf took the box from my hands.

"It's not an ugly box!" he answered as he slowly opened it, "it's something unusual; special even!"

Inside the mysterious black box, there was a mysterious glow. It has an interesting blue electrifying effect. It was a beautiful aura, but I don't understand why Galf was so worked up all of the sudden for it.

"This is the Voltaic Unusual!" Galf informed as he placed it near his counter, "It is so ancient and unique, that it is worth a lot of points and money! Many legal companies are trying to find these stuff and trade it for expensive items. It is worth 350 points!"

He gathered the notes from his counter before walking up to me. He smiled with pleasure. Bobo stood from the boredom of staring at the ceiling.

"So, we stole an expensive cosmetic?" he asked Galf.

"Of course, you two did!" Galf said, dumping a lot of notes and coins into my hands, "because of that, $10000 is yours, Jard!"

"N-No way!" I stuttered, gathering the money.

This was the best day ever.

Chapter Text

Chapter 6

Military Incursion

With $10000, I could pretty much buy any essentials, like a microwave or even a fridge. Heck I could even get electricity now! I don't need to use candles anymore. However, Bobo slightly deserved half of the bunch, after all, he saved my life back at the jungle. I got up from my bed before opening the front door. Again, I was feared by the almost compressing walls of the apartment hallways. It always seems to feel like I'm the only one who lives in this tiny apartment. I walked down the stone streets, the Sun beating on me and my black cap. The blackness texture of the hat absorbed the heat from the Sun and possibly cooking possible bed bugs in my hair. It wasn't long before I reached Galf's shop. 

"Hi, Galf!" I greeted as I entered his small shop.

"Hello, Jard!" he greeted back, "you seem very early for your next expedition!"

"It's not about that," I answered, putting the cap onto the clothes hanger, "I'm going to talk to Bobo,"

Galf thought for a moment before he walked from his counter.

"Sure, I'll lead you away!"

He took me back to the hallway again before stopping upon a door, painted with bright neon light blue. I'm guessing Bobo wanted his bedroom door to be his favorite color. He slowly opens the door, to find Bobo lying on the floor, playing with a small toy truck. I'm starting to think that Bobo has a mind of an eight-year-old.

"Bobo! Look who wants to visit you!" Galf said in the most parent voice he had ever announced.

Bobo looked up from his toy truck and smiled wider. It looked like he was excited to see me in good conditions.

"Jard! How are you, my man!"

"Yeah, I'm great!" I answered as I looked at Galf.

"Welp, I'll leave you two with the conversation!" Galf said as he left the door, probably returning back to his counter to sell his items.

I crouched down to Bobo, making sure that his cyan eyes aligned with mine. I put my hand onto his left shoulder.

"Look, I wanted to thank you for helping me back at the Jungle," I thanked, giving him a small warm smile, "if it weren't for, I would be dead and wouldn't make it this far,"

"You don't need to thank me you know!" Bobo said, "we are friends after all right?"

Friends. That one word that got me thinking in the void. Usually I work alone, stealing and finding artifacts myself during lonely expeditions. Never once in my life have, I ever met a friend other than Galf. Overjoyed, I smiled.

"Yes, we are friends!" I responded as I got out a few notes, "here is $5000 as a gift!"

Bobo's face dropped. He looked like he was about to cry with joy. He slowly took the money. It was a bit unusual for me to perform such action as I'm the one who needs to pay the debt. However, Bobo was something different, he was always there when I needed help, particularly at the Jungle. Without warning, Bobo lunged at me, giving me a huge hug. 

"Thank you so much!!!" he said as his joyful tears stained onto my black hoodie. 

Never in my life, I would be this overjoyed by something that I would lose. I guess money couldn't really buy happiness.

---

"Alright, Galf! We are setting off in our expedition again!"

This seems a little weird, but Bobo and I were completely ready to travel to the next dimension to snatch the artifacts. We decided to make a plan. I try and navigate the artifact and divert the nextbots, while Bobo will help heal me whenever I am downed. Galf was impressed by our enthusiasm as he walks towards his billboard, looking upon the upcoming dimension trip. 

"Right, you two are going to the Seraph Research!" Galf informed, "be careful! A special event is happening during this expedition!"

Great! A special event! Something that I wished that would never be a thing. If you don't know, those events are powerful forces by nature or by whatever reason to muck up the usual routines of me avoiding the nextbots. For example, there was one time where I couldn't jump throughout the entire time at the Elysium Tower. It wasn't a nice experience. So, what do I do in this situation? Cross my fingers and hope that I don't get a bad event.

We stepped into the portal and off to the other side. The area was rather intimidating. The research center wasn't huge and from out there was an empty forest with spikey gates to prevent wild animals from coming in. Oddly enough, they don't prevent the nextbots from coming in which loses the entire point of the gates being there in the first place.

"Alright! The round is about to start!" Bobo said excitedly as he checked the clock in my backpack.

We waited for a full 15 seconds, expecting to be nextbots spawning out of nowhere. It was odd, not a single noise was blurted from those creatures. It was complete silence; we could only fear the breeze blowing past us. I blinked in confusion.

"This is quite odd," I spoke, walking towards the research center windows, "where are all the nextbots?"

Bobo looked at me with an odd expression on his face. I think he got the wrong idea about my previous statement.

"I don't mean I like them or anything," I continued, justifying my statement, "it's just odd hanging around this place without them," 

"True!" Bobo agreed, "I'm a bit scared too,"

I took another glance at the windows. Seriously, whoever cleaned these windows should be given a raise. It was like a see-through mirror; I could see Bobo just looking around the Seraph Research Centre. A figure appeared in the windows. He was wearing a similar cap as I am, but only forwards. He has heavy military suit on with a slight blob of red on his shoulder. My eyes filled with fear as he pointed his gun at my head. 

"Jard! Watch it! It's a rebel!" Bobo shouted as I swiftly turned around.

I ducked just in time as the wall piercing bullet shattered the glass window. I felt bad for the window cleaner who probably spent his entire afternoon cleaning those precious windows. But there is no time to feel sorry, it was time to run.

"Those are the rebels?!" I yelled as Bobo nodded in response, "FUCK!"

I swiftly grabbed Bobo by the arm as we attempted to dodge bullets from the sudden military assault. A quick sharp pain pinched my back. I held my chest with my remaining hand as Bobo ran past me. My hand felt the warm iron liquid dripping from my chest. I couldn't believe it. Bobo immediately looked behind as he saw me collapsing to my knees. 

The blood in my throat partially blocked my airways as I coughed out the essence. The black road was covered in blobs of red blood. I couldn't take the pain any longer. I laid down, frantically breathing for air, but the air was getting thinner and thinner.

"Jard!" Bobo yelled as he ran back to get me.

He picked me up before carrying me over his shoulders, trying to escape from the Rebels' wrath. Another rebel appeared from the bushes before shooting Bobo in the arm, he screeched in pain as he dropped me in the cold cement floor. Bobo was shot.

"I think we got them," one of the rebels spoke in his radar as him and his other comrades left the scene.

I was forced to watch my life flying past me. My eyes weren't getting enough supplies as its function gradually began to fail. My vision began to impair as Bobo crawled towards me, desperately trying to save me. I was extremely tired; my body couldn't take it anymore. I closed my eyes hoping for the best.

The last of my nerves felt someone picked me up and carried me to God knows where.

Chapter Text

Chapter 7

The Defected Rebel

I was awoken by the sounds of the glass cups. The windows slowly opened to the world. The blur faded away as my vision became crystal clear. I was laying on my side on a somewhat comfortable bed, a soft mattress. I directed my eyes to focus on a figure in front of me. He was rather tall, with a front-facing black navy cap. I saw the backpack he was wearing; he must have carried many military weapons in that. There was a red ribbon strapped on both of his arms like if he is part of a pack. Finally, he turned around, showing his scarred face.

"So, would you like Barley or Peppermint Tea?" he asked.

His voice was rather old like if he fought from World War II. His arms stiffened when he asked the question. It caused quakes and shivers in my spines. I recognized that uniform and face. Wasn't he part of the rebels?

"I'm sorry, why are you helping me?" I said, getting up from my sleeping position, "and where is Bobo?"

I felt much better than I was the last few days. I touched my shoulder, not a single pain from the day that bullet shot me. Even he was a rebel, why did he save me?

"I felt a bad for you and your friend," he responded before pouring hot water into the glass cup, "barley or peppermint?"

I haven't gained full trust on this guy yet, but despite his deep manly tone, it was enough for me to answer his question.

"Uh, peppermint for me please!" I answered meekly as he turned around to the table and dropped the peppermint bag into the boiled water.

As he waited for the packet to diffuse into the water, he walked towards me before sitting beside me on the soft mattress. His arms are still as stiff as wood.

"Listen to me very carefully," He said in a harsh tone, "As rebels, we don't usually speak of our real names. We usually roam around different dimensions and hope that we could find a single artifact,"

He was quite an odd fellow. Is he really lecturing me about the rebel's reputation and goals? If what he was saying is true, would that mean his buddies would hunt me down just because I am also after the dimension's treasures? I watched as he paused from his previous statement, he was absorbing the event that happened to me and Bobo. 

"I never asked myself whether or not I am doing the right thing," he continued, "I continued my job, until I saw you and Bobo,"

He took a quick peak at my appearance. He could be observing any appearance, whether it's my pale-yellow color or the choice of clothing.

"Judging by your condition," he observed, "are you a college student?"

This man is a detective.

"Ah, yes... Yes, I am," I spoke, my mouth was getting dry from the near-death experience.

"The reason why I saved you," he said, "I wasn't keen to shooting you two kids,"

That statement shocked me. He is a rebel, right? Wasn't he supposed to be one of those ruthless murderers like the rest of his comrades? I started to feel sorry for this guy, he must've been forced to join this mission just to shoot down two people. His face was dried up from tiredness as black bags are visible under his eyes. I thought I was the only one who is exhausted all the time.

"I had a huge argument with my comrades after I told them I wouldn't shoot down you two kids," he continued on, his face darkens with sorrow, "they called me 'The defected rebel', just because I wasn't like them," 

I couldn't believe it. Even an enemy suffer more than you could possibly imagined. Maybe we aren't all the bad guys after all. I put my arms over his shoulders.

"I understand, and I am sorry to hear about your mistreatment by your group," I answered with empathy, "but you couldn't just let drag your tail all the time. You control your actions, not them. It doesn't matter if your leader doesn't approve. If you don't want to do it, then don't do it. You could always join in another group that you feel comfortable in,"

The rebel looked at me. His eyes softened as his limbs unstiffened from the words that poured out of my mouth. Although the red color on his arms still frightened me, he listened to those words like Jesus listening to his disciples. 

"We lost a rebel!" a voice boomed from outside the research, "find him before the timer runs out!"

"Fuck! We got to go!" he whispered harshly as he grabbed the tea in one hand and my baggy hoodie on the other.

His running speed was fast paced, even I couldn't keep up with his speed. He took a sharp turn before racing down the long staircase. In front of us was a large metal door with heavy handle. He pressed the handle before letting go of me. I managed to get up from my feet and walked into the small room. To my surprise, the blue visor boy was waiting for me by the doorway.

"Jard! You're alive!" Bobo squealed in excitement as he grabbed my arm and dragged me into the room, "someone carried me here and managed to heal my wounds!"

"Yeah... About that-"

I was interrupted by the sound of an opening metal door as the friendly rebel appeared from the crack of the entrance. Bobo, who had seen enough of his black and red uniform and predator like eyes, screamed as if he saw a monster.

"AAAAAAAAAAA! A REBELLL! GET HIM OUT!"

He proceeds to pick up a thong from the corner of the room before launching it at the rebel's face. I squinted my eyes, ready to watch the entire situation explode in my face. However, the rebel did not flinch, he only managed to look down at the broken footwear before bending down and picking it up.

"Did you just throw a thong at me?" he said, completely unfazed as he raise his eyebrows.

Before things got messy, I stood in front of Bobo.

"Bobo, it's alright! He's on our side!"

He only looked at me in confusion.

"How would you know that Jard? It might be some old trick!" Bobo complained in his child like voice, "I mean, look at him! He has a scary red ribbon wrapped around both of his arms,"

"If you really don't like the color red, then I can change that for you," the rebel said in the background.

If he was a rebel, wouldn't he be armed with some kind of gun?

"Couldn't you just shoot them?" I asked in curiosity.

"I would, but not now," he confirmed, "I left my pistol upstairs,"

"Well, we are fucked!" Bobo added as he helped himself in emergency noodles, "at least there are food down here, we can wait it out!"

"No! We need to get that artifact!" I said, "so uhm, rebel guy, is there a way we could clear your buddies so we could snatch that artifact?"

The rebel stared at me for a few seconds. He then dropped his heavy military bag in front of him. He dug into the huge storage and pulled out barrier poles and heaps of landmines. He then looked at me and Bobo with determination in his eyes.

"I've got a plan!" he said, "before I explain it, does anybody have any questions?"

Bobo puts his hands up.

"Yes?"

"Now that you are with us, what should we call you?" he asked. That honestly was a good question, "do we still call you 'Rebel'?"

"I prefer not to be called that," he answered, "call me Defect,"

Chapter Text

Chapter 8

Betrayal

"That was a depressing name!" I rebutted, "you could have given yourself an actual name, rather than something your comrades called you,"

"I love being called defected. It makes me feel unique," Defect answered, "don't question it,"

Even though I wasn't going to ask another question, I wouldn't question his strange decision even if I had the chance to do so. I was eager to hear his plan. He seemed to be trained under advanced military.

"Here's my plan-"

---

I really hope this works. I have a handful of barrier poles in my arm as I rushed forward to the entrance of the research. The coast was clear, it looked as if the rebels had gone elsewhere searching. Perfect! I reached for the wrench in my pocket as I carried Defect's heavy military backpack. Maybe this was how he got those robust reactions. I started working on my first barrier, planting each pole as far as I can, but close enough for them to connect. I flipped the switch on, the blue hologram glowed in the dark and as tough as a metal wall, it worked.

Now I have to repeat the same steps three more times, creating a hallway to connects the open air and the entrance to the laboratory. Finally, the last step of the plan, I placed a single landmine in the middle of the barrier hallway. I began wondering if Defect's plan would fail. Let's face it, the landmine was right in the open and the other rebels are not stupid enough to notice, right?!

It was Defect's part in the plan. I hid behind one of the dark tall trees as I watched him walking up to his comrades and waited for the conversation to begin.

"WHERE HAD YOU BEEN?!" the lead of the rebels shouted at him, "we were looking for you!"

"Sorry, sire," Defect boldly responded without flinching, "I was a bit lost from hunting those two down,"

"WELL DON'T GET LOST LIKE THAT! YOU SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF US!" the rebel beside the leader shouted.

"Again, I am sorry," Defect repeated, "which is why I am here to tell you I had found another person, they seemed to help the two boys who were shot down,"

"YOU DID?!" another rebel yelled from the back, "WHERE?!"

Seriously! Do these rebels have a habit of screaming at the top of the lungs, even when they are only meters away from the person they are talking to?! Do they always talk to each other like that?

"I found them in the Seraph Research," Defect replied as the leader nodded towards his comrades.

"Looks like we found them boys!" he announced, "they might not be dead yet! That means someone else might be here too! We shoot them down and that artifact is ours!"

I watched as they ran towards the entrance of Seraph Research, where a hallway of barriers was neatly placed. Now that Defect played his part, it was time for Bobo to shine. He came out of the corner of the room in the research with his light blue visor replaced by a maroon plaided hat. How is he buying every single hat cosmetic in Galf's shop?! He stood in front of the entrance in the open where the rebels could see him before proceeding to speak out in the manliest voice possible.

"It was you turds who shot those two kids!" he mimicked, putting on a somewhat serious face, "if you want to win this round, you've got to shoot me down first!"

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! GET HIM!" the leader yelled as the comrades rushed towards the entrance, raising and aiming their guns at Bobo.

They opened fire at their bait, Bobo immediately backed into a corner as bullets came crashing through the window and glass flew everywhere. The pack squeezed into the small barrier hallway that I had created. Before I know it, I heard a loud click when they reached the entrance.

KABOOM.

One of the rebels must have stepped on the landmine. A small mushroom shaped cloud appeared between the barriers as they immediately turned off, dead from the lack of power and sustainability. Once the exploding cloud slowly drifted away, I walked away from my hiding spot to investigate the mess we had made. The rebels were lying on the floor, unconscious and tangled up. Some had foam coming from their mouth, shocked by the unexpected bomb assault.

The clock reached zero as a pedestal raised from its hibernation. On top of it, revealed a green sword stuck into the stone. With no hesitation, I pulled it out. Although there was some decent amount of energy coming out of it, it wasn't glowing as well as the orange neon shades. It was like someone got an ordinary sword and painted it bright green. Like Galf said, an artifact is an artifact.

"Thank you so much, Defect," I said looking back as I put the sword into my backpack, "I couldn't have done it without you!"

"Ahem!"

"And you too, Bobo!"

Defect only stood silently over his almost dead comrades. It must had been a dark moment for him. He planned this trap against his friends just so that we could steal the artifact. He betrayed his friends just for us. He unwraps the red ribbon from his arms.

"Hey guys, if you are still alive, I am sorry," Defect sliced the silence, "but I have to move on my own. I don't need you guys anymore. I quit,"

He then drops the red piece of material above the rebel pile. The piece of clothing drifted into the wind before landing on the edge of the pile, being caught onto the sharp rock. He sighed before turning around to Bobo and me, leaving his former friends the mess.

"Let's go back to Galf's shop," he said.

Hang on. He knows where we are going next?! Does he know Galf?

"Sure!" Bobo cheered with pure enthusiasm as he tugged my shoulder.

I put the radar near my lips.

"Galf, we are coming back!"

Seconds later, the portal opens towards the formal dimension. Galf, as always, waited in front like if he was looking on a mirror. Bobo and Defect walked in first before the portal closed behind me. Galf was surprised to see Defect's arrival.

"Look who we have here!" Galf said with joy, "how are you going, Defect Rebel?"

"I am going fine," Defect answered as he looked around his shop.

Maybe those two do know each other. Possibly even longer than when I came along.

Defect grabbed his ribbonless arm as he took a glance at Galf's clean blue piece of cloth and nice old fashioned sewing machine. He looked at it for a few minutes before turning to Galf.

"Hey Galf, I will pay you 40 points to buy that blue cloth and the use of the sewing machine,"

Chapter Text

Chapter 9

Weekend Break

I watched Defect walking towards the sewing table with a pair of scissors in his hands. He slowly slips the blades onto the royal blue clothing as he started cutting it into thin strips. Bobo walked out of his room and saw the scene.

"Defect, what are you making?" he asked curiously before he could feed the strips into the sewing machine.

"Just making a new ribbon for myself," Defect replied politely as he finished sewing the first strip.

After he was done, he holds the blue ribbon in front of him. I think I know why he wanted a blue strip. As Defect said before, he wanted to be unique and different from his other comrades. The color blue, the symbol of calm and gentleness, was the full definition of Defect. I could clearly tell in his eyes, he doesn't want to rely more on his offense, but rather protect the ones he truly cares about. He then straps the ribbons on both of his arms before turning towards Bobo.

"So, what do you think?" he said, spreading his arms to let Bobo see his new sewn blue ribbons.

"I think it looks quite great; I like it!" I insisted before Bobo could respond his opinion.

"What he said," Bobo added.

Galf walked into the shop and sees Defect's new clothing style.

"Man, I never knew you could sew something very clean," Galf said as he held Defect's arm to have a closer inspection. 

"Thanks," Defect answered.

Galf then turns towards me and Bobo. It looked as if he was ready to see what Bobo and I got from the Seraph Research dimension. I opened my backpack before pulling out a sword that looked as if some 5-year-old painted all over the blade in green color. Galf was shocked.

"Is that the energy sword I see?" Galf stuttered as he only watched the sword.

"Yes, I know it's probably worthless," I said, trying to hand the sword over to Galf, "here, take it,"

"In that case, you can keep that," Galf said, backing away from the sword.

That was odd. Usually, Galf would take anything to sell something onto the shop, but now, he wouldn't even want to touch an artifact. Galf would even take an egg on toast and sell it into his shop if he wanted to. I should be thankful; I might use the sword when I feel threatened or endangered by a nextbot. Although, I don't think an image like being would even be feared by such a puny sword.

"Alright, thanks," I meekly answered as I put the sword behind my back, "so, when is our next expedition?"

"Hmm? Oh, you don't have another one tomorrow!" he said, "it's the weekend remember? You, Defect Rebel and Bobo can take a rest in my shop for a while. In the meantime, I will search for more dimensions that are currently making a new artifact!"

I took a huge deep breath before letting out a sigh of relief. For almost 5 days straight, I had been running non-stop just to survive from those gruesome monsters and now I could relax back in Galf's little shop. Unfortunately, holidays are not a thing in my occupation.

"So, we are having a break?" Bobo asked curiously, smiling from what he heard from Galf.

"That's right!" Galf said as he walked into the hallway in his shop, "have fun, you lot!"

When Galf disappeared into his own bedroom, Bobo screamed excitingly as he grabbed onto my sleeves and jumped up and down like a small child. 

"Do you know what this means! This means we can have some fun!" he screamed into my ears.

"Well, that means I don't need to worry about my cola limit then," I said in glory as I grabbed a cola from the fridge.

I flipped the cap and let the drink fizz over my hands. I gulped down the delicious solvent as bubbles lightly stun my tongue and my throat. Only this time, this feeling of pain was a great one. I don't know whether I am used to drinking the cola or the cola's capacity seemed to shrink every time I drink one can. 

"Well, that was a bit pointless," I groaned as I turned towards the fridge again, "I'm getting another can-"

"No, Jard! We don't want you to go into a sugar rush again!" Bobo yelled with a serious face before closing the fridge as soon as I opened it.

"Come on! Just one more!" I pleaded as Bobo shook his head in refusal.

"Are you really that old and you still go into a sugar rush?" Defect asked as he walked towards the shop, looking at the recent artifacts.

"He did go into one previously during our trip to Four Corners," Bobo blurted, turning towards me and giggled, "I wouldn't be surprised if he gets diabetes after a few weeks,"

"Shut up," I said, jokingly punched Bobo on the shoulder.

"So Umm, Defect," I said, attempting to change the subject, "how did you meet Galf?"

"Oh, him?" he said, looking at me with his shiny blue eyes, "I sometimes visit his shop and buy a lot of military weapons. I also loved the bronze teleporter,"

He reached into his backpack and revealed his personal teleporter. Unlike the original blue glowing teleporter, it was replaced by the triangular bronze base with beautiful glowing yellow light spurting out of it. Now, he isn't the only one with an artifact. I pulled out the energy sword that Galf unexpecting gifted to me. He didn't want it, in fact the sword seemed to scare him. Even Defect was shocked by the weapon I held.

"I see the reason why Galf wanted to give you that," Defect said out of the blue.

"Why is that so?" I asked, but Defect looked away from me in ashamed.

"I would tell you, but it's something terrible," he answered, "very terrible,"

How does Defect know all of this stuff? He is like a walking history book who knows every detail of artifacts. Maybe the energy sword is linked with his former group?

"I just know what that sword does, I was taught at the Rebel base," he continued, still looking away from me, "it was why we were there, trying to steal the artifact from the Elysium Corporation,"

I am about to walk up to one of those Corporation staff and slowly squeeze the life out of them. Why does every trip I go are connected with them?! 

"Also, Galf constantly talked about your legacy on going one dimension to another, stealing artifacts in a blink of an eye. Once I heard about Bobo joining the team, I refused to listen to my comrades after they wanted you two dead," he said.

That was why he saved. He was probably the one who healed Bobo's minor wounds and safely brought him into the underground basement. He was truly trying to protect us. I grabbed another cola from the fridge and sipped it. 

"GALF! JARD DRANK ANOTHER COLA AFTER HE HAD ONE!"

That was Bobo. What an adorable tattletale. No matter how little childish he is. He is my friend. I was about to have another friend who saved me from the journey. I should stop worrying about this crap for a while and relax. After all, this is a weekend break. Better to put all my thoughts to the side and start enjoying a well-deserved break.

Chapter Text

Chapter 10

Lemon

Like every day, I stared at my apartment ceiling. So far, I had counted every crack on the roof of the small room. It was 8 am in the morning, the last break day before I had to get up from my butt and start stealing again from different dimensions. It was time for breakfast, I wonder what Galf is cooking. I stretched my arm towards the table to grab my-

... Hang on, where's my cap?

I sat up from my bed to take a better look. My cap did indeed went missing, all I see was my alarm clock. I looked at the clothes hanger to check if a possible clothes thief snatched my clothing. My warm, black hoodie was still there, thank God. Then what could possibly want an old, messy black cap? I stood up from my bed before grabbing the giant, baggy hoodie, allowing the black, comfortable material sink into my palms. I quickly put it on, letting the hoodie cover my loose snow-white shirt. At least I didn't lose it, I didn't want to run around in dimensions with nothing but a white shirt.

"Maw..."

There was an animal-like noise in the room. Since when did I own a cat? Behind me was a small yellow cat. Its eyes were pure black, but it stared at me with cheeky and loving eyes. It took me a few seconds to realize what it was holding in its mouth. The shape seems to be familiar.

"Wait! That's my hat!" I yelled as the cat ran out of the apartment. 

I am pissed, robbed by a small animal? I dashed out the door, grabbing my backpack and slamming the apartment door behind me.

The small yellow animalia thief turned to a sharp corner before trotting down the huge flight of stairs. It was a big chase of cat and mouse, except the cat is the mouse and the human being is the cat. The chase was located in the spiral of stairs, round and round we go. There was light at the end of the spiral as the cat passed the small arch of the entrance of the apartment before I reached the end of the spiral staircase. The streets were lightly dried from the morning Sun, but you could clearly tell it was raining last night. As last resort, I leaped towards the cat, curving my hands over its small body. I bellyflopped onto the hard, stone floor, but I could feel soft fur in my hands.

"Got you!" I smiled as I held the cat around its waist.

"Ah, you found Lemon for me!" a voice said above, "sorry about, she does sometimes collect other people's hat,"

It was Galf.

"Oh, hi Galf!" I said, getting onto my feet while still holding the yellow puffball, "is this your cat?"

"Yes, it is! I just got her today!" Galf answered with glee, taking her off my hands, "her name is Lemon, she was a cat I found on the streets,"

"Shouldn't you return her to her owner?" I asked in concern, Galf shrugged in response.

"I don't think she has one, she began following me from the other side of the town,"

I looked at Lemon as she looked at me with her adoring eyes, even though her eye lids were closed shut. Her soft yellow fur slowly danced with the wind like reeds bending down in the breeze. I carefully grabbed my cap and pulled it out of her mouth. She obligates.

"Good, Lemon," I said, patting the cat on the head.

"Meow,"

Bobo walked out of the shop, and you would guess the reaction on his face when he saw the yellow fluffy cat. He rushed from the entrance of the shop before hugging the poor cat's neck. He puts his face extremely close to its thick fur.

"Oh, my goodness, it's so CUTE!" Bobo muffled as he dug his face into the bushy fur.

Not long after, Defect came out of the store. He watched Bobo being very affectionate to the yellow feline for a few seconds before opening his mouth to announce something.

"Breakfast is ready!"

Defect can even cook. This guy must have had a lot of talent trained when he volunteered to be a rebel. On the table, I saw the "breakfast" that Defect made. There was a huge plate of boiled eggs with a smudge of soy sauce. Each plate consists of one strip of bacon and a large portion of scrambled eggs, lightly sprinkled with salt and pepper. 

Without hesitation, Bobo sat in his seat before shoving the entire bacon into his mouth. Stars form in his eyes.

"This is so good!" Bobo muffled, with a mouth full of food.

I sat down at my food and looked at the lustrous bacon and eggs. The delicious smell was overwhelming, even I could taste the steam. I sawed the bacon with the plastic knife before putting the piece into my hungry mouth. It was perfect. Just the right amount of oil and the perfect spices. 

"Where did you learn how to cook like that?" I asked Defect, "I had never tasted anything this delicious in my life,"

"I used to be part of the rebels and it was my job to cook food for them," Defect nervously laughed, patting his own back, "guess I am used to cooking this way,"

---

Afternoon was a warm breeze. I watched the sun slowly going to bed from the roof of Galf's shop. Although I had seen it many times before, it was always satisfying to worth another view of the beautiful show. 

A warm fur touched my arm as it purred loudly. Lemon was brushing herself on my wooly hoodie. Galf giggled beside me as Lemon sat on my legs.

"She likes you as soon as she saw you," he friendly mocked.

I could hear Lemon's small snores. Her rough breath vibrated on my lap as I gently ran my fingers down her soft yellow coat. Maybe Galf is right, she does like me. I reached for my cap before pulling it off, letting my poofy yellow hair have fresh air. I looked at Lemon before plopping the cap onto its head.

It is so cute. Good cat, Lemon!

"Welp, now I am going to explain your next expedition tomorrow!" Galf spoke as he reached for his clipboard, "yesterday, the Elysium Corporation retrieved an ancient artifact,"

"You want me to steal from the corporation again?" I asked, knowing what Galf was going to say.

"Correct!" Galf replied, "Bobo will be with you, again!"

"Can I come?" Defect asked, peering from the ladder to the roof, "I can stock myself with weapons just in case if things really did go bad like last time,"

"Sure, you can!" Galf accepted politely.

"So, what you guys are doing?" Bobo shouted, standing on the ground below us.

Chapter Text

Chapter 11

Elysium Moonbase

"Right, you all are heading off to the Elysium Moonbase," Galf said as he fiddled with his billboard controller, "be careful though, there are many people who knows what Jard or any of you look like!"

"And why does that matter again?" Defect asked.

Bobo and I gave him a hard stare. He soon collected himself together.

"Oh, right, sorry..."

A portal opened in front of us, the room is dark and gloomy. Why did Galf wanted us to go into their base so badly? Is he interested in the artifact that they recently found? Bobo looked at me, he didn't seem to be intimidated by the dark lighting at all. Defect is just the same, his face doesn't flinch in fear. I am honestly not surprised at this point.

"Almost forgot!" Galf laughed as he got three Exo helmets, "you might need these for your trip,"

This brought Bobo's mood even higher.

"We are going to the moon?!" he screamed, "I always wanted to go to the moon!"

"No, we are going to the moonbase, idiot!" I whispered.

"Jard, the moonbase is on the moon," Defect pointed out, I felt stupid.

"Less chit-chats, more time to prepare and look around!" Galf interrupted as he checked his digital clipboard, "According to my clipboard, there would not be any other survivors there,"

Thank goodness! Finally, an Elysium based trip without anybody else!

"-but there would be Elysium guards there, so don't expose yourselves too much!"

Never mind I take back my last statement.

I gently put the bubble-like helmet onto my head. Although I could clearly breathe in this thing, everything almost turned into blue objects, and it felt like I am stuck underwater. Bobo sticked the giant blue ball onto his head, he doesn't seem to mind the blurry watery image of the world nor the salty smell. Again, with Defect's reaction, he puts that shit on like it's nothing. I am starting to think that there is something wrong with this guy.

"Off you go, you three," Galf said as we walked into the portal, "good luck! Make sure you don't die,"

The portal closed behind us. Very helpful advice, Galf. I should be thankful that there weren't too many people like the time in the Jungle or the Four Corners, but the guards at Elysium Corporation scares me. I had been to the Elysium Corporation before and during the tour at the Elysium Towers, the guards went into a massive weight of training... literally. They were forced to be carrying around a 15kg weight on the back every time they go around the towers and doing push-ups before their real training starts. Each of them puts on a calm face, none of them seemed to be struggling under the crushing weight of the heavy bags. 

"So, this is where they sometimes keep their artifacts," Defect observed as he wonders towards the exit door, "what was even the point of bringing the artifacts to the moon?"

"I think artifacts spawn here as well," Bobo suggested, following Defect to watch him staring into open space.

Bobo does have a point.

"We should look around the place for a moment before the nextbots spawn," I said, "just in case if we get into a sticky situation,"

"Good idea," Defect commented as he walks away from the exit.

The moonbase is surprisingly much more different than I last visited when I joined the Elysium Corporation. They seemed to be had repainted the walls bright orange over the old blue wallpaper. The lights were much lighter as they might have replaced the light bulbs or rebuilt a new light source. Everything seemed to be modernized. 

We walked along the huge space. I am assuming this was the main vessel for the moonbase. Bobo went ahead and sat on one of the black benches in the middle of the large and wide hallway. 

"Man, they have lunch tables here?" Bobo commented, "that's pretty sweet!"

Defect went over to him and sat next to him to make sure he doesn't randomly wander off again. I managed to get to the platform where there are glass rooms neatly aligned with each other into the orange walls. I brushed my fingers against the black pillars as I saw a familiar large room. The cafeteria. All that running around made me feel hungry for the past few months and my food storages was limited back at the original dimension. I stepped into the room before opening the huge cabinets. It was like a "Jard Dreamland". There are cups of noodles perfectly lined up on three shelves. The top was beef, the middle was chicken, and the bottom were spicy pork. Last time when I visited the area, there were only instant porridge as part of lunch and breakfast at the moonbase. 

"I hope they don't mind if I borrowed some," I whispered as I grabbed a handful of cups and shoved them into my backpack.

I continued walking around the kitchen until I spot a sharp object. A knife, ominously staring into my soul. I gently wrapped my hands around the handle before observing the dangerous object. Its blade was covered in red dripping liquid. It drips onto my sensitive yellow skin, delivering chills in my spine. Have I been in this before?

"Jard! You were supposed to locate the artifact! Not wandering around the dimension!"

Jard hesitated by the loud voice. It was one of the higher ranked staff members of the Elysium Corporation. He fiddled with his Elysium uniform before brushing his fingers against his metal nametag.

"I-I am sorry, sir. I promise it won't happen again," Jard begged, lowering his head.

The high ranked staff left the room, leaving Jard with a stunned and guilty expression. His face was suddenly shoved into the bowl of porridge below him. It was one of employers, they snickered as Jard lifted his head from the slimy mess.

"Look who got into trouble, again!" they called out, attracting other workers in the area.

"I'm not surprised," another worker added, "I just don't know why they would hire a small kid into the team. Are they drunk or something?"

Jard was then surrounded by a hallway of laughter. Each person either laughing, tearing up or pointing at him. Inside he had a twisted feeling to-

I snapped out of it. A beautiful red tomato rolled down onto the black floor. Thank goodness. I think one of the staff members were cutting up tomatoes for lunch and went for a break, forgetting about the sliced about tomato. I sighed in relief as I gently put the knife back onto the cutting board.

At that moment, Bobo and Defect came running into the hallway.

"JARD! RUN!" Defect yell as he grabbed me by the arm, dragging me onto the floor. 

I looked back to see a horde of Elysium guards, each with tough muscles and menacing guns pointing at us. Bobo might accidentally get caught one of them into their vision. Talking about him, he was different, his smile was upside down, tears forming into his eyes, he wailed from every missed gunshot. 

It wasn't long before we reached a dead end.

"Fuck!" Defect cursed under his breath before dropping me and Bobo onto the ground.

The guards swarmed around us, aiming their huge AR15s and raising their shields just in case if Defect or I retaliated with a powerful blow. Bobo was on the edge of losing it.

"Bobo! It's fine! We can get out of this!" I turned to Bobo, attempting to calm him down.

Bobo doesn't listen, he opened his mouth to make a loud wailing cry. An ear-piercing shriek filled the air.

Chapter Text

Chapter 12

he gave you one last chance.

The sudden loud shriek dazed everyone. Defect, I and the entire guard crew stared at each other, paralyzed and probably deaf. It was nothing but a void of lost sound waves for seconds. One of the guards moved one inch before hip-hop music kicks in from behind us. I looked behind, a horde of small gremlins piled onto each other, swarming above us like a giant tsunami. 

"What is that?!" One of the guards exclaimed as the human wave came closer.

"No idea! Shoot it down!"

Each guard redirected their aim toward the wave before firing the gremlins. They resisted the bullets like bullet proof glass. Soon, the waves engulfed the army, making massive intimidating sounds that was enough to scare off a bear. I rubbed my eyes to ensure that I wasn't dreaming.

"That's better! Now we can go have some lunch at their cafeteria!" Bobo exclaimed, not being concerned about the current situation.

Even Defect was concerned. His face softened as he attempted to collect the puzzle pieces about the situation. One of the gremlins came closer to us and inspected us. Although it wasn't quite png, I could clearly tell it was one of the nextbots. The gremlin has peachy skin, with a matching blue hat like Bobo. It meeped at us before hopping towards the others, continuing to torment the Elysium guards.

"Thank you so much, friend!" Bobo waved happily.

That could mean... Bobo is a nextbot. Defect would figure that out earlier than I could because he gave Bobo a suspicious expression.

"You can summon nextbots like that? By screaming and almost making us deaf?" Defect asked in a serious tone.

"Of course I can!" Bobo happily replied, not hesistating in his words.

It seems that Bobo doesn't care whether or not we figured out that he is a nextbot. The only thing he worries about was either I am getting hurt or being in danger. Talking about it, that really lines up with the mystery of how I first met him. He didn't follow the other Elysium survivors into the portal because he didn't want to be part of the Coporation's mess. He probably wandered into the forest only to later find me in the dimension. Even when he seems like a harmless fellow nextbot, remind me not to get onto his bad side. 

I could hear the sound of spine-crushing cracks as a pile of guards were paralysed onto the floor. The Bobo gremlins looked at eachother before they celebrated their small victory on taking down the Elysium Army. I looked at Bobo.

"Thank you so much, dude!" I thanked him, "maybe you did change my mind about nextbots,"

"Not all nextbots are bad you know," Bobo answered with a large smile one his face.

"Right! We should go and steal the artifact from the chamber room," Defect reminded, standing up and walking towards one of the rooms of the base, "it's almost time for the security laser to be shut down,"

We walked into the treasure chamber before the treasure was revealed to our eyes. The blue light seemed to be trapped in such a small chamber. It glows as its case gently sits on top of the chamber. Defect checked his watch, making sure that the lasers were cut off.

"And, that's time. Jard, you can snatch it now!"

I wrapped my hands around the lantern. It was wonderful, I was like a moth attracted to bright light in the dark. Assuming by the shape and that one page in that guide book, it must have been a Fusion Coil Light. I completely forgotten about how many points it was worth because those college lessons shoved that information out of my brain. I gently put the light into my backpack, next to all the packed instant noodles I needed when I get back from this expedition. 

Defect looked through his guide book before staring at the green painted energy sword on my back.

"I think I figured out why yours looks way less valuable," Defect said as he grabbed the sword from my back and began scrapping off the paint.

The sword has been revealed. It's ugly dark green skin began peeling off like an orange as a red glowing energy was shown like sunrise. It made the sword look a bit more valuable, but it probably wasn't enough for Galf to take it, after all, he knows more about cosmetics than I do.

"I guess this is our trip!" Bobo said.

I guess sharing the cup of noodles to both Bobo and Defect wouldn't hurt. I have like 15 of them shoved into my massive baggy backpack. I turned on the communicator and began looking for data to Galf.

"Alright, Galf! We got the artifact! Take us home!" I said.

"No problem!"

The portal opened in front of the three of us as we all walked into the portal, leaving the guards yelping in pain with their spines violently snapped in half. Galf was waiting in front of us, happy to see us three safe and sound.

"Welcome! What have you got this time, Jard?"

I pulled out the blue glowing lanturn out of my backpack.

"I know this is a Fusion Coil Light," I said, "I just didn't know how much it is worth,"

Galf leaned forward before taking the light out of my hands and placing it on his inspection table. He slowly turned his magnifying glass from every angle of the artifact before returning his focus back to me.

"It is a pretty decent and a valuable piece of artwork," Galf spoke as he walked towards his cashier for my payment, "I predict it is worth around 60 points and that would be about $1900 as your payment!"

I took the money before shoving it into my wallet. I could possibly now cover my monthly college tutition. However, there is a question in my mind that I wanted to ask Galf.

"Galf, the sword is red," I asked, taking out the red energy sword, "do you want it?"

Galf looked back at me. I could clearly tell he has fear in his eyes.

"No thanks, Jard!" he hesistated, "you can keep it!"

This guy is ridiculous...

"But why though?!" I asked in a more forceful tone.

"Look, the history of that sword scares me..." Galf whimpered before he yawned and returned to his cashier to prepare his warm welcoming to his customers.

"Come on, dude! What is this red sword going to do to you?" I asked, lifting the sword high to let Galf see it's glowing red body, "see? It's not going to hurt you!"

"Jard! You don't understand! Legends say that the sword holds a possessive energy that was crafted by the demons of the underworld. People who tried to wrongly use them were to be cursed under their spell!" Galf complained.

"So, why did you give it to me?!" I rebutted, was he trying to make me the scapegoat because of some stupid legend?!

Galf sighed, walked up to me again and put his hand onto my shoulder.

"I gave it to you because I trust you with it," he said in a passive voice.

Telling by the way he is looking up at me and raising his red cap, I knew he was serious this time. I take his words. 

"Hey, Jard. Hate to ruin a dramatic moment there, but why is your bag so heavy?" Defect interrupted as he lifted my backpack into the air.

Oh shit, I forgotten about the noodles.

"Oh... ummm... Some food?" I hesistated as Defect raised his eyebrow.

"You stole cup of noodles at the Elysium Moonbase, didn't you?"

"... Yeah. I did,"

Bobo's eyes lightened up when he heard the word "noodles". He began digging his way into my backpack to find a pile of instant noodles with three different distinct flavours. He gasped in happiness as he picked up one of the chicken noodles. He then ran up to me, his head raised high to stare deeply into my eyes.

"Can we have noodles tonight, Jard?" Bobo asked with puppy eyes, "PLEASE???"

I sighed, he wins.

"Alright then!" I sighed, unpacking some cup noodles onto Galf's kitchen table, "We can have some noodles tonight,"

Defect was holding the spicy pork flavoured instant noodles before looking at me.

"You don't mind if I can have this for dinner?" He asked.

"You do what you do," I replied.

Chapter Text

Chapter 13

Upcoming Expedition

The fire glow brightly in our faces. Its intense heat slowly melts the tiny icicles from my muscles. Bobo cheerfully slurped his cup of noodles, making a soupy mess on the dirt floor. We were outside of Galf's shop, with a barrel being lit on fire. Defect walked out of the glass entrance before setting down his spicy pork noodles, he was ready to have his dinner. Galf dug into his pocket before pulling out a box of cigarettes. He lit one of them up before putting them into his mouth. Both the smoke from the campfire and the cigarette clouded the sky above us.

"I didn't know the Elysium would keep such food in their cafeteria!" Bobo muffled with a mouthful of noodles, "because this is the most delicious food I had ever seen,"

"It's instant, Bobo," I stated before sipping the soup from the cup.

The deliciousness of the chicken flavor flooded my mouth. It was a perfect cold breeze night with a warm fire and delicious noodles. It was like a perfect summer camp. 

"Alright I'm finished," Defect said, wiping his mouth with a tissue.

"YOU'RE FINISHED ALREADY?!" Bobo screamed in shock.

No kidding, Defect only sat there for 30 seconds and then all of the sudden he shoved everything into his mouth, and it's all gone? Even the high heat of the hot water doesn't bother him. I haven't finished my cup of noodles yet. I've got to admit, Defect is a very fast eater, you couldn't even tell whether if it's his regular protocol or he was extremely hungry. 

There was a sudden loud banging sounds of tin pans as Galf sat up from his seat, removing the cigarette from his mouth. Defect and Bobo stopped and redirected their focus on Galf, who possibly have an announcement to say. He opened his mouth.

"Thank you all three for helping me with the shop," He proudly announced, "I couldn't do it without you!"

Bobo cheered as Defect patted himself on the back. I only smiled wide, knowing that I had contributed a lot for Galf for many months. Galf then closed his mouth, swallowing the next words he is going to say. I am assuming he is trying to fish out the ones that seemed to fit in the current situation, avoiding spoiling the nice night vibe.

"So, I am going to ask a very important question," he continued, bringing out his digital clipboard, "I had heard that a new dimension is going to form tomorrow,"

"Oh, so we are going to find another artifact from that dimension?" Defect asked politely.

"This time, there won't be an artifact at that dimension," Galf answered.

"Then what was the point in coming to that area in the first place?" Bobo asked, lifting his head up with bits of instant noodles sticking on his face like leeches.

Galf stood up before showing his clipboard at us. The paper on the clipboard was blank, not even a single scratch on it. I don't understand what message Galf was trying to deliver.

"Galf? That paper is blank," I spoke, placing the finished cup of noodles beside me.

"I know it is," Galf replied, "the point of your next expedition is to navigate around the dimension. This could mean that an artifact pedestal might be lurking deep within the dimension. For many months, I had gathered data from every trip Jard has made. Because this dimension is brand new, I thought it would be helpful if I collect some decent data on this place,"

"What do you want us to do?" Bobo interrupted, "there are going to be a lot of nextbots there! You couldn't just leave Jard there alone!"

"I never said Jard is going to go there alone," Galf answered, looking at Defect, "Defect Rebel, you might as well bring some weapons with you. I heard that the dimension has alien-like creatures crawling in it,"

"You mean the nextbots?" I said, raising my eyebrow.

"No, not the nextbots at all, in fact there are much more dangerous than nextbots," Galf replied, looking deeply into my eyes, "one wrong step and you are dead!"

I blinked, shocked by Galf's description of the new dimension. Would the dimension be as dangerous as the trap rooms? Like would it have traps at every direction I go?

"This dimension is called the Catacombs," Galf continued, "this place is known for the deaths of many survivors in the legends. It is better if all of you go and look out for each other just in case if one of you gets in trouble,"

Defect stares into the sky, admiring the bright stars that shone above him. Bobo was clearly deep into legends like this, his eyes had stars in them, and he was ready to listen every word that Galf was about to say.

"You would all be waking up at 3 am in the morning," Galf said, "the dimension would spawn at that time before communications gets cut off after an hour,"

"Jesus, I might fall into one of those traps without realizing," I sarcastically answered.

"Of course, this trip deserves a well-deserved award. I will give you each $900 if you help me take some data on the trip!" Galf continued.

That amount doesn't seem much to me anymore since I earn much more from just finding and stealing artifacts. However, Bobo's eyes lightened up like the stars above us, he seemed to be very keened to the award. And Defect? He's still staring at the night like he seemed to be chill with the idea into being thrown into a dangerous dimension. Galf claps his hands before finding the words to end his long announcement.

"You all get some good night rest!" Galf said as left the campsite and opened the door to his shop, "remember, we are waking up really early to start your next expedition,"

Galf closed the door behind him. Bobo waved at him in response.

"Good night, Mr. Galf!" he said before looking at me, "I should be going to bed too!"

As Bobo followed Galf back into his shop to get some night rest, Defect continued looking at the stars.

"Defect, don't you want to go to sleep as well?" I asked, worrying that it might rain tonight.

"No worries, I will just sleep outside," he replied, snapping his eyes away from the sky.

"But it's going to be cold outside! Especially with the cold breeze at night. Are you sure just wearing your rebellion uniform would keep you warm for the night?" I added, concerning for Defect's health.

He responded me by lifting a warm cloth sleeping bag, showing it in front of my eyes.

"I have a sleeping bag, I will be fine,"

With that, he walked off. I shrugged, at least he got some warmth for tonight. I made my way to my apartment, knowing that I would be waking up really early; early enough that the Sun itself hasn't awoken from its slumber.

Chapter Text

Chapter 14

Dimension of Flesh

My eyes were weighted down by the tiredness of my body. It was unusual for me to wake up this early. I lightly combed my hair, slipped my black hoodie onto my white shirt and flop on my black cap to cease the bushiness of my hair. I walked out my apartment, it was as if I am robbing the Sun blind while it slept in its slumber. The air was freezing, it was like walking through a blizzard with no snow. There they were, Defect was standing at the entrance of Galf's shop with nothing but his customized rebel uniform and a simple lantern. Bobo, on the other hand, stood next to Defect with his hands clenched against his warm uniform. Although he had been wearing about four layers of clothing, he was shivering like if someone shook him violently.

"Good morning, Jard," Defect greeted, with left arm around Bobo in attempt to warm him up.

"It seems very weird to be saying that" I answered, looking up at the stars painted in the sky, "especially when it is dark,"

"Okay. Good night even though it is 3 am in the morning," Defect repeated.

"Ah, you got a point," I sighed, "Good morning to you both,"

I looked at Bobo, who was still shaken up by the cold breeze.

"Come on, it's not that cold!" I commented.

"That's easy for you to say! You had been to icebreaker like 10 times!" he replied.

I get it. Icebreaker has freezing snow. Every time I travelled to that dimension; I was almost frozen solid. Since that I tried to be as light as possible, the only thing I was wearing was my black cap, grey jeans and the white shirt with my black hoodie covering it. I must had got used to the frosty and brutal temperature without realizing. Bobo got to pray that the trip isn't going to be as cold as where we are now. Finally, Galf emerged from his shop with a box of items, possibly for our expedition.

"Alright everyone! I had done extra research on the Catacombs," Galf announced, dropping the box in front of his heavy boots, "The Catacombs is going to be a slightly wet and slimy place, so I want you all to wear heavy boots,"

He digs into the container before pulling out three pairs of brown heavy boots. One by one, we took one pair before shoving it over our current footwear. The boots had fur inside it like if someone shoved an animal into it, but it has such a nasty odor. He then grabbed out three grappling hooks, each with strong ropes.

"I also want you three to take these as well, it helps you to escape some traps you might find at the Catacombs!" Galf said, putting a single heavy grappling hook into my arms.

As I carefully slide the launcher into my bag, I heard a gunshot like noise. Fearing that it was the rebel's arrival, I spun around. Thankfully, it was only Bobo testing out the grappling hook.

"I like this thing!" He smiled, reeling the rope back into the launcher.

Seriously, he needs to stop scaring me like that.

Galf picked up the lid of the container before covering the opening of the large container. He then looked up to us three.

"Just in case if you get into danger," he continued, "I want you all to be carrying weapons,"

"For what? Slaughtering thin air?" I sarcastically commented again.

"There are parasitic and violent creatures in that dimension as well," Galf said, ignoring my remark, "it isn't fully confirmed to be true yet, but I still want you to carry something you can protect yourself just in case,"

To this point, I'm starting to feel like Galf is being overprotective of us, acting like a mum to a 15-year-old nextbot, a college student and a retired military solider. Galf then pulls out a bat from another container and gave it to Bobo.

"Since I don't really want you to be running around with sharp weapons, I made you your personal combat baseball bat," Galf said as Bobo stretched his arms for his handmade weapon.

The bat was slightly small but has a sturdy texture. I assumed that Galf painted the handle of the bat bright blue to attract Bobo's attention. Of course, it worked, Bobo swung it around a few times, swatting the cold thin air with joy.

Defect pulled out one of his pistols. It was huge with its barrel blanketed by a silencer.

"I can just use my pistol," Defect stated, "I've put on a silencer to make sure it doesn't attract any more creatures or burst your eardrums,"

From past experience of escaping the Elysium artillery guards and a close escape of the rebels, Bobo would probably need warned the most about the sound of the loud gunshot.

"Great!" Galf noted, respecting Defect's choices before turning to me, "Jard, do you want me to get you a knife?"

"It's fine," I quickly said, "I got my weapon right here,"

I pulled out the massive red glowing sword out of my backpack. Sometimes it confuses me why someone would paint it green in the first place, it looks fine even with its true colors. Galf nodded, approving my weapon for the expedition.

"Alright! Let me open the portal for you all!"

It was ready, the energy around the portal lightens the dark as we crawled into the mysterious dimension. Galf gave us a friendly wave and a good luck before the portal completely closes, leaving us into this newborn dimension.

"Eww, what is this stuff?!" Bobo squealed in disgust, lifting his foot up from the sticky green surface.

Checking that Bobo wasn't making stuff up, I lifted my foot from the ground. Sticky goo stuck to the sole of my boots as it glowed with neon green. The smell of the substance doesn't help either as I could feel myself hurling up last night's dinners. Even Defect felt a bit nauseous by the smell.

"Well, we should hurry up and explore this place," Defect reminded as he walked off into one direction, "it is better if we split up and track somethings down, so that the process of collecting data would be much faster,"

"Defect, you monster! You couldn't just leave Bobo alone!" I argued, "he's only 15!"

"Don't worry, Jard! I will be okay!" Bobo happily answered before taking a route towards his right.

All of the sudden, the floor below Bobo opened up. An opened maw spread out as it's gooey sharp teeth. Some neon lime saliva stuck from the top jaw to the bottom as Bobo's body accelerated deeper into the opened mouth.

"NOO! BOBO!" I yelled, immediately running towards the mouth.

The grappling hook, it must have been in my backpack waiting for its time to shine. This might not work, but it is worth a shot. I aimed the hook at the fleshy hole as I fired approximately where Bobo fell. There was silence between me and Defect. He looked at me with despair, knowing that he was the one who put Bobo in danger. Just as soon as I thought all hope was lost, there was a sudden tug on my grappling hook.

"Reel it back up! I got it!" Bobo voice echoed through the opened maw.

There go my tears, the tears of joy, knowing that Bobo would be safe after all. Defect's mood lightened to hear Bobo's words as I reeled him out like a fish in a lake. When Bobo landed both of his feet back onto the sticky surface, I lunged in for a hug. I never thought I would be this thankful to see him safe. Defect fiddled with his hair and seemed to be finding words for an apology.

"Bobo, I'm sorry that I lead you into danger," Defect said, feeling ashamed, "you can follow me around and we could get some data together,"

"Awww, that's sweet of you, Defect!" Bobo answered, accepting the deal.

Defect then looked at me.

"Jard, are you okay to go alone?"

"Of course, I am!" I answered brightly, putting the grappling hook back into my bag before preparing to set off another route, "I have a radar in my bag, I will contact you guys whenever I find something interesting!"

"Alright then, keep yourself safe!"

With that, both Bobo and Defect left, it was only me and in this dimension of disgusting flesh. I nodded at the flesh like wall before walking the other direction, collecting some other data on my own.

Chapter Text

Chapter 15

Under the Green Weather

So far, I had been travelling in this flesh like hallway for at least 10 minutes. Everything seemed to look the same to me. Green glowing slime dripped from the sticky ceiling as small disgusting worms emerged from slimy pores. The smell was so horrendous I was forced to bring my white shirt up to my nose. This place is a jungle. Lime colored gooey tentacles are like vines and huge disgusting bugs are the animals in the jungle. I am starting to think that the legend was right, we would probably never get out of this dimension. All of this was for Galf, who was enthusiastic about the data in this dimension. 

My hands reached for the backpack again, wrapping around the handle of the rejected sword shaped artifact. As I walked deeper and deeper into the faded pitch-black tunnel, the sword glow brighter and brighter, with its gentle red glow collide with the green flesh hallway. I thought back to when I originally found it, originally how it was completely painted in cheap green paint. Maybe there is something to do with it? Or was it some kind of average teenage prank? It could be something wrong with its original color, red was probably a sign of death. That could be the reason why Galf rejected it from his shop.

The tunnel was completely endless. Did I just lose track on where I am? Hopefully not, it would be horribly embarrassing to be lost as an experienced navigator. But there had to be another room or hallway connecting to this tunnel. I wouldn't be surprised that the Catacombs scares Galf when we get back.

My clothes are ruined by the dimension. There are smudges of glowing green slime printed on parts of my casual clothes. The lime goo somehow leaked into the ceiling of my cap, coating my yellow hair with showers of revolting liquid. Every time I turn around, a trail of slime ooze down my face.

I stopped to my tracks to find my entrance is blocked by vines of slimy tentacles. This is probably the most vulgar expedition I had ever been through. I stretched my hand out to the vines in attempt to go through, only to immediately jerk back from the cold, sticky touch. The 'vines' are so thick and there doesn't seem to be anyway to get through...

"The energy sword!" I muttered to myself, lifting the sword closer to my face.

Voices of Galf's stern warnings echoed through my head as I locked my eyes to its ominous glowing red blade. What does he mean by using the sword properly? Like using the sword to wave around enemies and slice them in half like a swordsman? There had to be another use of this sword.

With no other options left, I gripped the handle before swinging the blade at the tentacle like vines. It surprisingly went as well as expected, the long and thin green entities cleanly sliced, dropping to the wet ground like flies. 

Great. My blade is now covered in that disgusting saliva of the vines. I don't even want to put it back in my backpack now. I continued walking down the hallway of smelly odor and strange forestry. There was a huge room, carved by little green glow worms that nest in the hard solid rocks and bits of alien-like shrubs surrounding the small area. In the middle, there was a large flower bud.

"Well, that's interesting," I said, hearing my voice being repeated by the echoes, "I might as well take some data, Galf might be interested in this sort of shit,"

I pulled out a clipboard from my bag. I don't miss the edges of the marvelous discovery; my fingers carefully traced and copy the shape of the bud. The bud seemed to be light green. Unlike its surroundings, it wasn't coated with revolting slime, but rather a lightful scent. It improved the air quality of the tight room of vines. I thought it has to be the perfect time to take a deep breath in. I dragged my white shirt from my face, letting my nose sniff the sweet scent.

"Isn't that bad," I laughed, holding the sword near the bud as a light source, "it smells like lavender and roses,"

There was a sudden jolt from the ground below me, like a short earthquake. My body immediately flinched at the jerky movement. My eyes widened in a mixture of fear and confusion. Sounds of what it seems to be flesh regenerating came over into my ears. I turned back to see three thick vines striking towards my direction.

"FUCK!"

I swung my sword at one of the closest vines before it landed onto the floor beside me. It continued to wiggle violently like when a gecko loses its tail. There was a loud crack on the wall. Still facing forward, I spot one of the vines stuck into the wall behind me. It was such a close call; the entity was inches close to my head. I could feel the green slimy surface brushed against my face of the vine, leaving behind a small smudge of green mess. Focusing on the situation, the third vine is about to strike my direction and looked as if it's going to hit. 

In quick reaction, I swung my sword as the red glowing blade cleanly sliced the second vine. I immediately took out my radar from the front pocket of my backpack. This was my last chance.

"ANYBODY THERE?! THIS IS JARD SPEAKING!" I yelled into the radar, evading the vine's attacks, "MY LOCATIONS ARE ON! PLEASE HELP ME! I AM UNDER ATTACK!"

I took another chance to swing the energy sword at the vine when it swoops in for another attack. With all three vines cleanly sliced off, I panted in exhaustion. I was already tired from evading those fast-moving slimy vines. It wasn't long before another sound of regeneration rung over me. The vines began to lift their sliced ends as a mutated like flesh formed from its tip. Are you fucking kidding me?!

"HELLO?! IS SOMEONE OUT THERE?!" I yelled into the radar again, hoping that either Bobo or Defect picks up.

A vine struck to the ground, barely missing my feet. Slime and debris flew from the heavy impact as another loud crack echoed in the walls. 

"Hello? Jard is there something wrong?"

Thank goodness! Defect picked up his radar.

"DEFECT! HELP ME GET OUT OF THIS MESS!" I yelled, attempting to evade the second vine which swiveled upwards and diving towards my direction, "MY LOCATIONS ARE ON! THERE ARE CREATURES ATTACKING ME AT THE MOMENT!"

"No problem, I am on my way!" 

I put the radar into my pocket before sighing with relief, Defect is coming and possibly shoot these disgusting creatures with his pistol. But this is no time to relax, there are more vines coming to meet my demise.

However, they stopped attacking. In fact, they flopped to the ground and became inanimate again. Finally, I guess Defect didn't really need to come and save me. I walked towards the sliced vine before grabbing a bag, shoving it for data collecting. Green gunk dripped from my fingers. Disgusting.

I looked back at the bud to ensure that it wasn't destroyed. It wasn't, but rather it was opening. A blinding neon green blew up in my face as the petals started to unfold. Before long, it revealed a small green string, glowing pure green brighter than the Sun. Amazed by the mysterious ritual, I stepped away from the corpse of vines and looked down at the material. It was a glow worm, expect it was much bigger than the ones I had found during my travels. 

I sighed with relief before opening my mouth a little to catch the nice lavender scent again. I was exhausted from that unexpected fight. The worm lifted its head at me, curious to see what a human being like me is doing in its home.

Out of the blue, the small glowing entity launched itself into my mouth. 

"WHAT THE FU-"

My words got cut off by the worm. It left a glowing green slimy trail on my tongue; I could feel it's cold and disgusting ooze dancing in the roof of my mouth. I tried to regurgitate in order to spit the glow worm back out, only to make it worse. My throat was sick as my nerves felt the worm sliding deeper and deeper down the chamber. Every second I choked, coughing up what it seemed to be neon green liquid. The glow worm doesn't seem to care, it continued its journey down my system.

Everything is disgusting about this place... This is disgusting!

Sounds of the vines lifting from its temporarily sleep made shivers down my back. I wiped the green liquid around my mouth that I coughed out. I picked up the sword again, only to struggle under the weight of the sword. What is going on?!

I felt my muscles weakening, failing to connect with my brain. Nausea ran over me; I clenched my stomach in pain. My vision began to blur a bit, everything started to fade to green. I couldn't fight if my body is in this condition.

Then it was gunshots in a distance before my hearing fails me too. It was Defect, he made it in time. I watched as lime slime splutters everywhere on the ground, on the walls and on my clothes. He noticed me clenching my stomach area before running towards me.

"There you are, Jard! I came as soon as I could!"

There goes a splitting headache. I couldn't stay conscious any longer. Before I knew it, I collapsed to the ground, blacked by the pain in the inside.

"JARD!"

Chapter Text

Chapter 16

Are you alright, Jard?

It was extremely hot. I somehow managed to lie on my back. There seemed to be something soft and comfortable underneath me. I still woke up with a terrible headache, almost like a fever. Don't tell me I got sick all of the sudden. I looked down with the remaining strength on my neck. Galf's red and white blanket. Am I on his bed?!

"Jard! You're awake!" Galf said with a small, concerned tone.

In making sure that the bones in my body didn't break from that Catacombs experience, I moved my arm. Although they felt numb, they obeyed the message as they raised in front of my face. I looked at Galf, his face is melted with guilt and dread. He probably felt bad that I got hurt in the first place.

"What happened?" I asked.

My voice barely carried out the message. It was like a soft whisper, followed by a voice crack. The taste of that stupid slimy glow worm still remains in my mouth. I wish I could forget that experienced. Should I be worried though? I think that worm probably already got digested for God knows how long. Galf seemed to get my message.

"I have no idea, but Defect carried you on his shoulder before cutting the expedition short," he said in a calm voice, "he got back out to the expedition again and told me to look after you until you feel better,"

That got me thinking. Where was Defect when I left? Even better, where the hell was Bobo?! Without skipping a beat, I let my thoughts out, praying that Galf would hear them. He turned to me before gently taking my cap off and putting it on the clothes rack. 

"Bobo was exploring another cave while Defect was watching over him," Galf explained, "you were also screaming frantically into the radar while I was cooking ramen,"

Everyone can hear me. Oh... The radar connects to every communication device, even Galf's. 

"And when Bobo heard about you feeling unwell, he immediately cut his expedition temporarily short to see you. He seemed to be very concerned about you," he continued.

Defect and Bobo needs me, they couldn't do this expedition alone. I tried to sit up from the bed, only to be greeted with another splitting headache. Galf gently sets me back down on his bed again, knowing that I was in pain. 

"You explored enough for today," Galf stated, "do not worry, Defect and Bobo will finish off the expedition data collecting,"

"But-" I spat while avoiding to sitting up again, "there are only two people doing the data collecting! Besides, Bobo's like 15 and almost died!"

"It's okay! Defect has got him under control!" Galf answered, standing from his seat with his eyes darting over my backpack.

He dug his hand into my backpack which was completely soaked with green slimy substance. He holds a familiar zip lock bag that contains slightly less than a liter of the glowing green goo. He smiled before turning to me once more.

"At least you got some bits of data," he softly said, putting the bag onto his observation table, "that's not all of it,"

Again, he digs back into my backpack to pull out a slimy tentacle like vine that tried to attack me. Is that the reason why my backpack was deliberately soaked?

"This is definitely interesting; I will quickly extract the DNA later. Defect also took the photo of the sketch you made of that flower bud,"

Good job Defect. I knew you could be a helping hand.

"I think you had collected enough data, you probably don't need to go out to that expedition again," Galf concluded, before walking towards the bedroom door, "have a good rest before the others come back, alright?"

With that, he disappeared behind the hinges as the door closed behind him. I am now all alone. What can I say? I deserve this rest, apart from the reason of the unknown sickness that had been hovering over me. I stared at the cracked and full ceiling, numbers counting down in my head. I slowly closed my eyes, resting them once again. Everything was going to be okay...

It was the seventh day at work. Although it was barely sunrise, there were loads of bustling sounds in the Elysium Towers. All levels of the tower were filled with busy scientists, enthusiastic navigators and treasure collectors. There were sounds of machines, talking and glass. This was no stranger to Jard even though he was only working for four days at the Elysium tower. He just got back from his trip to Ice Breaker, slightly covered in snow from his orange uniform. He was ready to announce the coordinates of the artifact. He stepped at the information desk.

"Morning, Jard," the lady spoke, looking at him with kind eyes, "you got the coordinates from your expedition,"

"Definitely," Jard responded.

She puts her glasses on, typing on her computer. Jard could hear the loud typing noises from her computer, even though he was only standing five meters away. The lady looked at Jard again.

"You just came back from the Icebreaker dimension?" she asked.

"Correct,"

"Right. I will contact Rose for your arrival," she said, standing up and unblocked the path of the elevator, "she will be on the 5th floor and just three doors to your right,"

Jard steps into the elevator before the door closes in front of him. As the machine carries him further into the sky, he took his time to think what the researcher would look like. He had met other researchers before, they seemed to be extremely strict from his experience. But for a researcher named Rose, it seemed to be an anomaly in his memory. Finally, the doors of the elevators open-

"JARD! YOU MOTHERFUCKER, STOP MOVING!"

My eyes busted open from the sudden burst of screaming. I blinked once to collect the current situation I am in. I could feel my body being strapped to a hard board. I tried to move my arms in front of me, only to realize that my wrists were firmly strapped to the sides of the board. Defect was the first thing I saw with his hands pressed against my arms; pinning me onto the wall like a sheet of paper.

"DEFECT, WHAT THE FUCK-" I muffled.

My words didn't come out I was hoping to be. My tongue felt a wet cloth. Did he just put a stupid towel in my mouth?!

"Oh! You're back!" Defect said, realizing my presence, taking the towel out of my mouth. He stepped back a few meters.

My thoughts swirled around in confusion, trying to compute on what is happening. Behind Defect, there was Galf and Bobo. Instead of a welcoming expression, they were completely terrified. Galf's fearful eyes darted at me as he patted Bobo on the back, who had seemed to have gone through a panic attack.

"So, uh... What happened?"

The room went silent.

Bobo looked at me, with tears pouring out of his eyes. Were they attacked by something?

"We went to check up on you to see if you were okay," Defect spoke, killing the silence, "and then you jumped out of the bed and tried to attack Bobo,"

Attack Bobo? Why would I do that? I never remembered laying a single finger on Bobo after the Catacombs incident.

"So Galf walked in and restrained you after you tried to bite me when I tried to protect Bobo," Defect continued, "you seemed to have gone insane. Are you alright, Jard?"

"Yes, I am alright," I replied, "I am sorry, but what the fuck?!"

Bobo sniffled as he opened his mouth to say something.

"Your eyes glow green; it's scary!" Bobo screamed through his tears and snot.

I swallowed the spit in my mouth that Defect once placed a soggy towel in. It tasted like the ocean, saltier than a single salt container.

"Why does my mouth taste salty?" I asked, disgusted by the taste.

"Oh yeah, Bobo chucked salt in your face to defend himself," Defect added, "sorry I had forgotten to mention that."

Galf only stared at me with a mixture of concern and confusion. I couldn't blame him, I am as confused as he is.

Chapter Text

Chapter 17

Ugly Truth behind the Screen

"Whatever the case it may be, Jard, I don't think it's safe for you to continue your expeditions until we get this all under control," Galf spoke.

"Get what under control?!" I questioned.

I looked in the mirror. I did not understand every word Bobo was saying. Other than some sticky mess that green gunk made back at the Catacombs, I looked pretty normal. My eyes were perfectly fine, not a single green hue could be seen. Defect left the room. The situation was probably too much for him to handle. 

"Bobo, my eyes are not green!" I suddenly said, hoping that Bobo could relax a bit.

"They were before!" Bobo cried.

I paused. Were they? I tried to bring my arms around Bobo in attempt to comfort him... Only to forget my arms are immobilized by the tight rope.

"GOD DAMMIT, GALF, CAN YOU PLEASE UNTIE ME?"

"Oh... uh, sure!"

String by string, I felt my wrists loosening as the ropes fell to the ground next to my feet. Finally, some fresh air for my wrists. There are red marks, representing the patterns of the rope. It seems that I had been tied up for a very long time. I turned to Bobo.

"If I did go insane, how long had I been tied to the board?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. Bobo calmed down to answer my question.

"I think you went crazy on that board for like 30 minutes," Bobo replied, wiping away his tears, "Defect had to hold you down when we tied you up,"

I'm starting to feel like they are making this shit up, just to get away with tying me up for whoever the fuck knows the reason. To put my theory on the test, I figured out a clever way to find out the truth. I know in his bedroom, Galf keeps a security camera over his bedroom. He told me that it ensures that nobody is trying to steal stuff in his bedroom whenever he's on the shop. Though, I don't think anybody would want to steal broken pieces of material and a line of some kid's collection. His security camera allows him to review what happened a few hours ago.

"Can I check the security room, Galf?" I asked.

"Sure thing," he replied, opening his bedroom door.

I walked through the long hallway once again, Galf's shop isn't just his shop, but also his house. He lives in his shop. The security room wasn't hard to find, it was a room with a door printed with the name "Security".

When I entered, it was almost pitch black. Without the lights turned on, the only hue I see are black and a few grey. I sat in those black wheelchairs as it rolled onto the grey wooden floor. I never saw Galf mopped his room before, but his security floor was almost flawless. I hover my hand over the desk to find the mouse, only to see a box of used cigarettes in the corner of the table. Galf must have been a heavy smoker. Finally the mouse was underneath my palm before I began scrolling through the security cameras. 

I clicked onto "Galf's bedroom" as it pops up with an imaging of Galf's bedroom. Bobo was in the corner of the room and folded up, probably traumatized by the recent event. Sometimes I wonder that I wasn't the one who's responsible for Bobo's PTSD. Lastly, I clicked a button on the screen to rewind the camera just when Defect and Bobo walked in. My fingers hovered over the left clicker, repairing to unwrap the true event.

That was when I saw the ugly truth. Just as when Defect came closer towards my unconscious body, the event of the horrifying truth starts. I watched as my body rose from the bed covers before tackling Defect to the ground, snarling at him like a wild dog. My eyes were as wide as plates and my jaws dropped in surprise. I continued watching the film.

"JARD! GET OFF ME!" was a phrase that burst out of the speakers. It sounded like Defect was struggling upon my body's weight.

It was later followed by a "HELP ME!"

I leaned closer towards the screen, trying to catch every detail in this horror movie. Defect's shirt was covered in glowing green water. Inspecting closer, I realized that was from me. Glowing lime saliva slid from my mouth as it dripped onto the floor and on Defect's uniform. No matter how many times Defect tried to kick me off, my body wouldn't budge.

Bobo tried to pull me off Defect, only to be chased around in the room. How was it possible? I never remembered starting a rage fit by jumping out of bed. I paused the screen to make sure it wasn't a prank pulled by Galf himself. I zoomed in the camera; taking a closer inspection of my face. Fear and guilt ran down my spine, my hands shook violently from the screen. On the security, my unconscious body made a snarling face with terrifying neon green glowing eyes. I was like a wild animal who had been dipped into radioactive waste. 

The entire film was like watching a horror movie. Nothing, but a constant torture of watching myself terrorizing my friends like an unconscious zombie. My stomach felt sicker than the time at the Catacombs.

"Well, now do you believe us?" Galf spoke from the security room, standing at the doorway.

Not taking anymore of the small horror film, I closed the security camera screen. I sat back into the wheelchair in silence, trying to swallow every information that I was fed. This couldn't be real, but it is. It wasn't some prank, it wasn't a dream, it was in fact real. My hands held my forehead, wiping away the sweat produced by the building of stress. 

"I-..."

"It's alright, Jard. We know it wasn't your fault," Galf interrupted as he came into the room for a hug. What a sweet guy.

He then pulled away from me. 

"Come on, let's get you back to my bedroom, I will make sure that it won't happen again,"

We walked down the hallway back towards his bedroom. I really hope my expedition break wasn't going to be as long as the summer holidays. I was very close to paying all of my college bills and debt.

"Do you know when this is going to end?" I asked as I walked beside Galf.

"Not sure, maybe when I feel like it's safe for you to go out to dimension trips again," Galf answered, laughing a bit.

I went back into the room, Bobo was still folded up into a small ball in the corner. Ignoring his puppy-like whimpers, I sat onto the bed once again. I tried to recall past events that might contribute to this disastrous catastrophe.

That glow worm...

That FUCKING glow worm...

I never knew that little thing would be a parasite. All of my fingers are pointing at it to blame. Okay, maybe some parts of it was my fault, I shouldn't had removed my shirt from my mouth in the first place. 

I'm usually the person who wouldn't care about whatever dimension I am going to as I was going to have to get used to them. This is odd for me to be saying this... but...

I really hate the Catacombs.

Chapter Text

Chapter 18

Midnight Drinking

It was the fourth day without stepping into another dimension and it is already driving me insane. I was mostly used to getting up from my apartment, walk down the street and expected to travel to another unique would. The only place I am travelling to now was rooms in Galf's shop. My bed was replaced with Galf's bed himself; he told me that it was unsafe for me to walk back to my apartment as he was concerned for the shopkeeper a few blocks down. Maybe everywhere was a dimension, just wasn't as interesting as the ones I formerly travel to. I sat at the edge of the bed, resting my head upon the head of the furniture. A few moments of reflection were all I needed.

"Sorry, to interrupt you for a moment," Galf's voice suddenly appeared, making me jump a little, "but I needed you to drink this,"

He passes me a plastic bottle of slightly opaque water. I sighed and grunted with deep disappointment to find out it wasn't cola.

"What is this?" I grunted, grabbing the bottle and lightly squeezing it.

"That's just salty water," Galf replied, "I added a lot of salt in it to get rid of the parasite. I did research on some of the vines you collected the data during the Catacombs expedition,"

He just chucked many salt crystals into the solvent and mixed it with clean water. I wasn't really keening to drinking that stuff.

"Galf, are you sure you had done your research properly?" I asked, lifting one of my eyebrows.

"I am sure that I am accurate on this one," Galf answered confidently, "Depicting on the environment, layout and forestry, I am assuming that most creatures in that dimension have similar structures to slugs. You know what happens if slugs come into contact with salt, don't you?"

I slowly unscrewed the cap of the bottle; the smell of salt rose into the air. I had not taken one sip from it yet and I already could taste the salt in my mouth. It was like an indoor beach, but without the sand or the fun. I gagged.

"I know it would probably taste bad, but it's a faster method to get that thing out of you," Galf added, preparing to leave the room, "do you have any questions before I monitor my shop?"

"No not at all," I meekly replied, putting the cap back onto the bottle.

"Alright! Call me when you need me!"

He closed the door, leaving me alone in this small rectangular room. It was like prison, limited by the places I could go. I stared at the salty water bottle again. 

Whatever the case may be, I hope Bobo and Defect the best of their trips. As I remembered from yesterday, they are off to the indoor courtyard. A very tight dimension, but it was easier to navigate around and avoid nextbots. Easy for me. It looks like they are going to recover an artifact from that dimension. I unscrewed the bottle cap again, maybe if I drink this fast enough, that stupid glow worm would be dead, and I am able to get back into my expeditions again. I pulled the bottle closer to my face, gently placing the lip of the drink to my mouth. I closed my mouth... and furiously tipped the bottle, letting the solvent slide down my throat.

"ACK- FUCK!"

I coughed up small amounts of that revolting saltiness. It was like jumping into the beach and slurping up the sea water. Disgusting! Galf owes me 10 colas after I drink all of this shit. Once again, I looked at the bottle. The liquid was not even halfway nor three quarters. Great, about one eighth of sea water to go.

There was a sudden movement of noises from outside the bedroom. The sound of supernatural teleportation effects. Are Defect and Bobo back? Then it was an unexpected movement of the door hinges as Bobo appeared from the entrance. He seemed to be smiling, happy to see me again.

"Guess what, Jard?" He exclaimed excitedly, "we found an artifact! And it looks really cool!"

He pulls out a pair of interesting goggles. The artifact had four yellow eyes in a similar shape to the night vision goggles. It looks like they brought back an item artifact. Bobo looked at me again, removing the goggles away from my face before looking deeply into my eyes.

"Isn't it pretty?" he asked in a baby like voice.

"Uh, yeah. It looks cool," I responded as tiredness weight my tone of voice.

Defect walked into the room.

"How are you feeling, Jard?" he asked.

"I feel fine," I shrugged.

Galf came in to see if I was okay too. He smiled and waved in the background. I began to notice Bobo locked his eyes on the plastic salt bottle next to me. He was up to no good.

"Oooh! Is that a soft drink? Let me have a taste,"

"WAIT! BOBO, THAT ISN'T-"

It was too late; Bobo snatched the bottle of the salt concentrated water before taking a huge sip. 

"-soda..."

It wasn't long before he started gagging. The salt in that bottle probably got the best of him. Realizing his mistake, he grabs the bottle cap before tightly screwing on the bottle then carefully putting it on the table to where it is, pretending that he didn't pick it up in the first place. Galf laughed in the background. Typical Bobo. 

"What was that?!" he coughed, trying to clear off the saltiness from his tongue.

"Salt..." I replied in a light tone.

"Alright everyone! Bedtime! I will see you all tomorrow!" Galf yawned before leaving the door.

I laid down in bed with my eyes wide open. I wasn't going to sleep without that sweet taste of cola in the fridge, especially when I haven't tasted it for four full days.

It was around midnight, Galf should be asleep by now. Sneaking out of his room, I crept towards the kitchen. Thankfully, Galf planted his sleeping mattress at security, which was far away from where I am. Everything was pitch black, I had to scurry around like a blind mouse, touching anything until I find that cubical fridge. I should have brought my torch or my red energy sword.

Suddenly a glow of green appeared in front of me, someone must have put a green lantern next to me.

"Oh, thank you!"

The fridge was in front of me the entire time. I quickly opened it up before achieving the treasure I was looking for. This was a lot similar to my expedition, expect that the colas are the artifact I am trying to find. I snuck some in my pocket before leaving the kitchen. Whoever put that lantern there is extremely helpful. When I walked past the mirror, my eyes locked onto my reflection. Normal hoodie clothing, yellow skin, black cap and brightly glowing green eyes-

...

wait.

I immediately dashed back in front of the mirror of which I saw the anomaly feature. But when I examined my eyes again, they were back to normal. Now everywhere is pitch black, no light anymore. God fucking dammit.

I sighed as I crawled back into Galf's bedroom before opening the can and taking a sip from the well deserved reward.

Chapter Text

Chapter 19

Child Leash

This was the day that I was hoping for. After almost a full week without going anywhere but Galf's little shop, he was ready to give me the green light to go on expeditions again. Fantastic. However, only in one condition...

"Alright, put these on Jard and then we can go to Underground Facility,"

Defect handed me a tight roped material with two bands attached to one long string. A child leash would probably be the last thing I would wear in public. Galf told me that just in case I lose control again, he wanted to wear that shit for the entire expedition as he knew how eager I was to come. There is no way I am putting that thing on; I don't think a college student would be wearing them outdoors.

"Don't worry, Galf confirmed there won't be any more people beside us there," Bobo added, chiming into the conversation.

I hope so. Those survivors would be looking at me, wondering that the world's wanted man is being pulled by a child leash.

"Still, I am not putting them on!" I grunted, pushing the leash away from me.

"Jard..." Defect pronounced my name in a stern voice. It slightly scared me.

After a few minutes, I gave into the Underground Facility trip with the child leash on, but it is only for those 15 free colas at the end. Galf gave us a thumbs up before us three emerged from the other side of the dimensional portal.

"Good luck out there! There will be a special round happening!" Galf yelled from the mirroring side, "Defect Rebel, don't forget to tell Jard to finish his vegetables!"

"GALF!"

There was a playful laughter at the other side before the door of the dimensions shut close. That trickster got me again. Bobo giggled with laughter as Defect facepalmed after smiling at his statement. Way to go, Galf. 

The dimension was pitch black. We were standing on metal bars and levitated many feet above the ground. I looked down, it was nothing but an endless drop into the abyss. This place would make an acrophobic person have a heart attack. In front of us there was a glass door. It seems that this company in the Underground Facility has hired a professional window cleaner. Before I could turn the handle, I heard the sound of footsteps as it grew louder and louder.

"HELL YEAH!"

Bobo jumped at the door before kicking it down like a cassowary attack. The door flew open as the hinges snapped. If there is a certificate for hating doors, that reward would be given to Bobo. He looked behind, staring at Defect and I with a huge smile.

"You kind of look funny with Defect pulling you on that child leash," he teased, "Ironically, I am 'the child' here,"

"Shut up," I muttered.

"Quit horseplaying you two, the nextbots are going to wake up soon," Defect shushed both of us with his hands on the leash.

There was a sudden jump of my heartbeat, I sensed that a nextbot is near us, but everywhere I looked around doesn't seem to be any png like shape. The noise grew louder and louder, and the sound of my heart pounding became more noticeable.

"you're too slow, You're too slow, YOU'RE TOO SLOW!"

SHIT! This must be the invisible special round! Defect noticed too before grabbing Bobo with his friend and attempted to run away from the vicious cry of the nextbot. I wanted to run towards the nextbot in attempt to run past it before it could land a hit on me, only to forget that I am attached to the child leash. My body flung forward as seen as Defect took off. I landed on my back before brutally being dragged onto the metal floor below. 

"OW! FU-"

Defect took a sharp turn from the metal bar route. My face flew into the tall thick pole before repositioning to wear Defect was running. I coughed that glowing green liquid from the impact before feeling a bit dizzy in the head. I couldn't believe it, that stuff is green now! It made me look like something other than a normal human being. I am thankful that I am not the only one who had forgotten about the child leash. 

"Ouch! Sorry, Jard!" Defect yelled as he took another sharp turn.

Again, my face heavy collided with another metal pole, more revolting green saliva flew out of my mouth and onto the floor. I am starting to think Defect purposefully wanted me to collide with the metal poles; he probably wants me dead. I looked behind me to see where the hell Defect is at, my heart dropped when I saw another sharp turn. From all the spinning around, being kissed by many metal poles and Defect's careless backseat dragging is making me sick. I hovered my hand over my mouth, trying extremely hard not to make a gooey mess.

Finally, we had reached the door, but it was closed. I looked forward, although I might not see the bot, I could sense that it was chasing us, with their hungry looking eyes. Simply turning the handle would lead to our doom, so you would probably guess what Defect did.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY, YOU FUCKING DOORS!"

He leaped into the air similar to Bobo before kicking the doors down, allowing them to fly right into the building and leaving small bits of debris flying around. Defect took his chance to make one last sharp turn. Instead of a 90-degree turn, it was a complete U turn. Before I could react, my body collided with that stupid wall. I couldn't hold it much longer. I squinted my eyes before opening my mouth. When I opened them again, I noticed that I had made art. A giant blob of green liquid printed on the wall. I've got to admit it, it was a pretty nice artwork. Even if the Underground Facility cleaners couldn't clean it off, they would probably need to spice up the place with art anyway.

Defect stopped at his tracks, knowing that the nextbot sounds had completely disappeared. I meekly checked my timer to see if it was time yet. There was only one minute left and that nextbot would probably still be chasing us. That Sanic nextbot was chasing us until now, but it seemed like it ran away; scared by something. What is going on?!

"Huh- It's gone," Defect said, letting go of Bobo from his hand, "so, where's Jard?"

Seriously...

Defect then quickly looked behind him and noticed me laying on the floor trying to recover from the regurgitating experience. He then covered his mouth in shock.

"Oh, my UEC, I am so sorry! I got caught up with running away with the nextbot!"

"It's fine Defect," I meekly answered, trying to get up, "maybe I should take another break from another expedition,"

Bobo walked a meter closer to me and examined my face. 

"Jard, you have some green liquid pouring out of your mouth!" Bobo said with a slightly disgusted expression.

I stuttered before wiping my mouth with my black hoodie. I looked down to find a smudge of glowing green liquid settling into the thick clothing. It must have been sliding at the corner of my mouth when Defect went crazy with the sharp corner turns. From all of that pulling on the child leash, my chest was tight. I could feel the circulation getting cut off from my arms. I pulled on the straps to allow blood flow to my blood hungry arms. 

"Well, I guess that is over, we should take a break-"

Another roar of crazy sounds echoed through the hallway. It seems to be another nextbot. 

Chapter Text

Chapter 20

M.I.A

I picked up the pace on my feet to match Defect's marathon run, trying my best to not trip over. My heartbeat beats faster and faster in fear as the nextbot drew closer and closer to us. The lights flickered harder as chills travel down my spine. My legs grew numb, not from the fast pace, but rather from the reaper chasing behind the three of us. Bobo, in a quick of a think, dug out a small pencil case out of the front pocket of my backpack. Inside the case, there was a small notebook with a hard cover. I scoffed.

"Bobo! This isn't really the time to be drawing!" I yelled as he looked at me, smiling with his glimmering eyes.

"Don't worry! I got a plan!" he yelled back.

He opened the notebook before grabbing a blue crayon. Even though the air that flew by us were as loud as a jet plane, I could clearly hear the scribbles of the pencil as Bobo rushed a small simple sketch. A magic miracle happened before my eyes. A similar figure emerged from the pages of the notebook. It looked like Bobo, except a lot more spaces in between the colors. The sketch looked at Bobo, saluted him before running off the opposite direction and past the nextbot. Confused, the hungry creature looked at the fake Bobo before chasing it, leaving us nothing to run from. Defect finally slowed down, taking a breath.

"Nice one, Bobo," he said, putting a thumbs up while catching his breath.

"What was that?" I said, looking at the nextbot chasing the fake Bobo off in the distance.

"Oh this?" Bobo turned around, holding up the magical pieces of materials, "this is a decoy! I can make a copy of myself in order to escape tight spaces!"

"How did you get that? From a witch's cauldron?" I asked, examining the notebook.

"Galf's shop, actually," Bobo answered with joy.

Jesus! What stuff is Galf even selling? He seems to be a wizard from the Hogwarts. I know he was supposed to be a mysterious character, but never higher than this level.

Defect brushed off his rebel uniform before he sat on one of the barrels that was neatly lined up against the wall. Bobo simply sat on the cold floor. Defect took his moment to look around and collect where he is. 

"So, we have a few 30 seconds left before the artifact is revealed," He said softly, "maybe we could talk for a while,"

"Yeah, sure!" Bobo excitingly agreed, "so, before you rejected your comrades, how were you with the other rebels? How did you even join the rebels?"

"I supposed it was interesting," Defect answered nervously, scratching the back of his head, "I joined when I was about 17 years old, back in those days we used to go around different dimensions and shoot survivors so that we could get the artifact first,"

"That sounds evil," I responded, tugging the child leash.

"I know," Defect said, "but the survivors are there so that they could snatch the artifact before we could. The rebels and the Elysium corporation had been going into an ongoing war ever since,"

"Well if the rebels dislike the Elysium Corporation, then why they are trying to attack me?!" I asked, raising my voice a bit.

Defect looked away from me for a few seconds before meeting my eyes once again.

"You used to work for the Elysium Corporation, right?" Defect noted. Now everything else lines up.

"Oh! That makes sense now!" I muttered to myself.

Defect turned to Bobo to ask him a question.

"So, how was it like being a nextbot?" He asked, "does it feel like everyone hates you?"

"No, not really" Bobo chuckled, "it was quite fun-"

As those two continued the conversation, I turned my head away from their eyes. I stared at the blank brick wall, painting a picture in that mind. Now that Defect mentioned about the Elysium Corporation and how I used to navigate the artifacts for them, I am starting to think about that one girl who I cooperated with. Rose.

He walks down the hallway and followed the information desk's instructions. He reached the door, the door that he was looking for. The dark oak stood menacingly at his short size with a fine golden plate printed in bright yellow letters "Rose". He took a breath in before curling his hands to knock the door.

"Come in!"

Unlike the other harsh researchers, her voice was as soft as a pillow. Jard turns the handles before entering the room. The air was filled with a lavender smell as the room was painted with pure white wallpaper. He focused on the middle of the room. Rose was only slightly taller than Jard. She has her long brown hair tied up into a bun with her pale white skin being spotlighted by the light above her. She was dressed nicely like an organized desk worker. Jard had a weird fluttering feeling inside of him.

"It's Jard, is it?" she asked, going through her papers that she recently printed out.

"Ah, uh... Yes. Jard," he responded, pulling the chair back before sitting down.

"Wonderful!" Rose answered, "alright, tell me about your trip!"

Her tone was as soft as a feather, almost catching Jard into a tune. He pulls out a sheet of notes from his bag before putting it on the desk.

"It was cold, but it was okay," Jard responded while Rose looks at the recorded evidence on the notebooks.

"Interesting," Rose said quietly, putting the notebook beside her, "I will send these to the staff immediately! Thank you for your cooperation!"

Jard unzips his bag before leaving for the door. His hand opening the door. Before he completely disappears, he again turned to Rose.

"Hey, Rose," he asked, flustering a bit.

"Yes?" she asked, looking at him.

"You don't mind if we could have some tea during break, right?" he said after a long silence.

"Oh, I would love to," Rose answered, with a kind smile, "I will see you there, Jard!"

With that, he gently closed the door, avoiding slamming it. He smiled to himself, a part of him felt safe every time he was around Rose.

"JARD!"

I flinched at the sudden sound of Defect. Bobo was looking at me oddly while Defect facepalmed with disappointment. Have I been daydreaming?

"Jard, you got to stop snoozing off like that, it's scaring us," Bobo said.

"Oh, sorry, what did I miss?" I said, chuckling nervously.

"Defect asked you if you had a crush before," Bobo answered, "after all, you are going through college,"

"Pfft! No! I don't have a crush!" I answered, denying the fact I once had a crush on Rose, "what would your question be, Bobo?"

"Have you ever murdered someone?" he smiled in a childish tone.

What kind of question is that?!

"Definitely not!" I rolled my eyes.

Defect checked my watch. He stood up from the sitting position on the barrel before walking off.

"We better get to the pedestal, it's almost about time,"

As we followed Defect to wherever the artifact would be revealed, I saw a wanted poster in the corner of my eye. The wanted person seemed quite familiar, long brown hair, gentle white skin and a kind smile. Is that... Rose? I stopped walking as I moved closer towards the poster and examined the name below it...

'Wanted: M.I.A.'

Chapter Text

Chapter 21

Trooper

I held the paper in front of me, not believing on what I was seeing. I felt the rough paper texture of the wanted sheet. It was definitely from the Elysium Corporation. But what gives? Rose was extremely loyal to the Corporation; she wouldn't just abandon them like that. Maybe she left because she realized how corrupted the company is? Who fucking knows?!

"Walk faster!" Bobo said in a light tone.

I felt a strong tug on my chest, Defect must have tugged it. It was like an owner taking his dog for a walk.

"Alright, Defect! You don't need to pull it!" I sarcastically sighed before picking up my walking pace.

There it was. The artifact that we were looking for. The pedestal stretched up to the height of the platform from the depths of the never-ending fall of darkness. Dimensions are very mysterious sometimes.

"I don't know what this is, but it's beautiful!" Defect whispered, admiring the artifact's cyan glow.

The teleporter had a unique structure to it. Around its glowing energy, there are withered tree like structure protecting it with a large stem representing the staff of the artifact. With all the teleporter looking artifact, this one surprises me the most. Well, I still liked the bronze teleporter better. I had no knowledge similar to Galf, I was muted to speak its name.

"That's the Hard light Gate," a masculine deep voice confirmed.

Thank goodness Defect knows his artifact identification.

"Thanks, Defect!" I said, still having my eyes stuck on the teleporter.

"But Jard. I thought you said that!" Defect replied with a confused tone.

"Oh, sorry... Thanks, Bobo!" I corrected.

"Not me either!" Bobo answered in a cheerful tone.

Hang on. If it's not Defect or Bobo, then who was the one who identified the artifact. I spun around to check if it was someone else. Behind Defect and Bobo, there was a tall man. He was wearing a hard green helmet. You couldn't see his mouth as a black mask covered most of his eyes. Only his eyes were uncovered so that he could see the world. He was wearing a green military uniform, but much more armored than the rebels. 

"Oh hell, no..." I heard Defect muttered.

He looked at me with kind eyes. 

"Well, isn't it the interdimensional navigator I had been hearing about?" he said in an impressed tone, "glad that I had ran into you when I was wandering in the Underground Facility."

Bobo looked at him with a confused face, wanting to know how the hell he knows what I look like, but never knew my name. The man blinked, reading Bobo's expression before taking another breath to speak again.

"I don't know your name, but I heard you are the one who is responsible for the fall of the rebellion group. I am sure that your little friend here is also a part of the massacre," he continued, "that's correct, am I right?"

I wanted to lie; have the urge to say no. What if this guy is a part of the rebels and was here to take revenge of what we had done to them. I know it was Defect's plan, but he probably thought I was the ringleader.

"Oh yeah! That's us! His name is Jard!" Bobo said out of the blue as the man nodded. 

"Bobo! You are going to get us killed-"

"No need to be feared. I am here to say thank you for your work!" he said, offering me a handshake, "Unfortunately, due to company reasons, I am not to speak my formal name. You may call me, Trooper,"

I nervously took his hand and shook it.

"Nice to meet you, Trooper," I said with some studders in my words.

"Now, I was also mentioned that Galf the shopkeeper is your current travelling organizer?" He asked.

Now I am scared. Trooper knows everything about me.

"Yes, how do you know?" I answered before asking him another question.

"I usually visit his shop to buy some artifacts that you collected," Trooper answered in pride, "he also constantly talked about how you collected them from different dimensions in perfect conditions. That was when I knew I really needed to meet you,"

Galf let the cat out of the bag... Well, Lemon out of the bag actually. 

I looked at Defect, whose face turned into a pissed bitter lemon. His body tensed up from the presence of Trooper as he darted his light blue eyes at him. I have a feeling he knows who he was before I do; it looked like it wasn't a good one. Trooper looked over to Defect before holding up his own hand for a small friendly wave.

"I didn't expect to see you here, Defected Rebel," he said in a friendly tone.

"Don't test my patience, motherfucker!" Defect hissed.

I had been with Defect for a fair amount of time. He was quite a chill person. He doesn't care what happens around him as long as it doesn't put me or Bobo in danger. But today was different, it was like an invisible force sabotaged his buttons. He was full of rage just because of one person. 

Before anything else could go bad, I lunged at the artifact before shoving it in my backpack. The backpack has many layers of cotton and polyester to soften the harsh movement of shoving the artifact deep into it. I think that was why Trooper mentioned the artifact to be in good conditions. I picked up the radar to call Galf.

"Hey, Galf. We got the artifact. Take us home!" I spoke into the communication system.

"No problem!"

The portal opened in front of us. Galf was standing in front of it as expected. His eyes widen as his smile grew wider when he saw Trooper.

"Trooper! My man! How are you doing?" he said, as Trooper gave him a wave.

"Better than ever, so is this the guy you told me about?" he asked, motioning to me.

"Of course, he is! He's the best navigator, isn't he?" he said with a cheeky wink.

Defect sighed in annoyance as Trooper walked into Galf's shop.

"Does he have to be in here?" He complained, walking through the portal.

I tugged the child leash straps as it squeezed me as tight as the hallway in my apartment. Trooper noticed the item around my shoulders.

"Why do you have a child leash on?" He asked as Bobo giggled a bit.

"Personal reasons..." I answered quickly, before taking off that stupid thing and resting it on one of Galf's wooden chairs.

"You know, that reminds me of something," Trooper said, looking at Defect with a cheeky expression.

Reading Defect's face, he has a 'Don't you dare' expression on.

"When I trained the rebellion group a long time ago, Defected Rebel kept falling off the balance rope, so one of the other rebels had to pull him up with a child leash just in case if he falls again," Trooper chucked.

Bobo made a loud wheeze of laughter as Defect dug his face into the sofa, embarrassed about his childhood. I got to admit, it was pretty funny and definitely made me feel better about wearing the child leash during our previous expedition.

"Why..." Defect sobbed, refusing to lift his face from the sofa.

I now get why he hates the guy now. But for real, Trooper used to train the rebels?

Chapter Text

Chapter 22

Mayday the Rebel Base

Galf's shop is quiet for once. Everyone stared at Trooper as he went through his military bag, looking for something special. The silence was already killing me. 

"Ah, found it," Trooper said, pulling out a thick book.

He opens it up, revealing a line of photos on every page of the book. Defect's muscles tensed in anger, his arms are crossed in disgust as his face was dripping with toxicity, darting his eyes on Trooper's. Trooper stopped on one page before slipping his finger into the pocket and pulling out a square shaped photo. The photo contained a group of people. I counted in my head, there were about 12 people formerly standing on the lush grass, each wearing a grey sweater and a black cap. Bobo moved his face closer to the photo, expecting its fine details.

"Who are those people in the photo?" Bobo asked in curiosity.

"Those are what you call 'The Rebels'," Trooper answered, "Back in my days, I used to train them to be troopers like me. That was before the betrayal,"

Bobo stared at the photo before giggling a bit. I checked before following his line of sight to find out what was funny. There was a small boy in the picture, looking all scrawny and scared. Out of the rebels, some moron decided to put bunny ears above him. That small boy, the one who had eyes filled with fear had a familiar face and hair. Was that Defect?

"IS THAT YOU, DEFECT?!" Bobo laughed, pointing at the goofy boy in the picture.

Defect sighed before resting his head on the wooden table. He seemed to be very tired of Trooper spilling the tea. By the sound of him being part of many corporations, he might have something to do with Rose.

"Hey, Trooper! Do you know anything about Rose?" I asked as Trooper looked at me with his kind eyes, "like, the M.I.A wanted poster that the Elysium Corporation kept putting up about?"

"Let me see..." Trooper responded, looking at the ceiling, thinking what he was going to say, "unfortunately, I do not recall why Rose is being wanted, but I am assuming that the rebellion group knows about it,"

The rebels? It sounds crazy, but if they know what happened to Rose, then we had to go ask them. They probably already seen Bobo and I blow up their mates, even Defect had the guts to betray them. They would even blow us up to bits if we are not careful. Defect slumped into his seat.

"Man, how glad I would see them again," I heard a bit of sarcasm in his tone.

I walked over from the tight corner to give him a few pats on the back, comforting him from the built-up anxiety and anger. It must have been a rough day for him when Trooper is around. Bobo raised his eyebrow, for almost the very first time, he was serious about the tight situation.

"Do you know where the rebels live?" he asked.

"From what I could remember, they probably camp out in the Mayday dimension," Trooper replied, "from the Elysium corporation news, they said that they won the war against the rebels after they shot down the plane in that dimension,"

I looked at Galf, who was cleaning the plates after we ate a quick snack. I opened my mouth to request a special expedition.

"Hey, Galf. Is it alright if we could travel to the Mayday dimension?"

"Mayday?" Galf asked, looking at me with curious eyes, "isn't that where the rebels live?"

"Yes, but I want to speak to them," I answered boldly.

Galf gave a sigh before smiling as a response.

"Alright! Be careful then!"

"Thanks!"

I carried my backpack before nodding towards Bobo, who got out his hitting bat, ready to smack any rebels who came too close to him. Talking about weapons, I checked to make sure that the energy sword is still in my bag. Since the Catacombs, it helped me a lot on this journey to battle out dangerous enemies. Its magnificent red glow lights up my face with comfort.I fixed my eyes on Defect, who still has bags under his eyes, lazily slumping over his chair.

"Are you coming too, Defect?" I asked one last time before we left.

This caught Defect's attention, he sat up from his chair before grabbing his silenced pistol.

"Yes, I am coming," he replied, standing up from his sitting position and walked over towards Bobo.

"Jard, don't forget the child leash," Galf reminded, holding up the child leash in his hands.

"OH, FUCK NO! I AM NOT PUTTING THAT SHIT ON AGAIN!" I screeched.

"I don't think Jard really needs it anyway, Mayday doesn't have much dangerous obstacles," Defect added, which Galf shrugs in response.

"Alright then!" he smiled, putting the child leash into the drawer, "I trust you then, have fun in there you lot!"

Defect is a legend. I owe him for saving me from being dragged around in a child leash again. I could finally run around free and drinking cola as an excuse to run faster.

"Welp, that is it from me then!" Trooper said, standing up before leaving the shop, "Bobo! Look after Defect! Make sure he doesn't trip over again!"

"FUCK OFF!" Defect screamed as Trooper disappeared from the corner of the streets.

The portal closes behind us, leaving us in a slightly arid biome. The air was slightly thick from the green fog, but thin enough to let us see a decent distance across the dimension. There were camps planted everywhere, each have the voice of angry rebellion echoes. In the middle was a giant plane, busted up and burnt for who knows how long. It was unbelievable, but we made it. We are at the base of the people who wanted to hunt us down.

"Everyone, follow my lead," I whispered.

Bobo blinked nervously while Defect shook his head in response.

"Jard, it's too dangerous for you to immediately appear in front of them," Defect responded, "let me do it,"

"You can't! You are going to get yourself killed!" I answered in a slightly louder tone, "you betrayed them, remember? That means that you would be their main target!"

"Good point..." Defect said, lowering his head.

"Now, we should sneak around the corner and further away from them and not make any loud sounds!" I instructed, but Bobo stood up from his hiding spot, having half of his body exposed from the view.

"MORNING, REBELS!" He screamed at the top of his lungs.

"BOBO! THAT IS THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT WE WERE SUPPOSED TO DO!" I shouted, standing up from my position as well.

"Hey! YOU TWO OVER THERE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"

It was too late. One of the rebels spotted us from our stupidity. The leader emerged from the crowd before looking at both of us.

"That's the two kids! GET THEM!"

I watched as the rebels ran into their camping tents and grabbing out their pistols. It was time for dangerous action. I pulled out my energy sword before pointing it at the leader rebel.

"We are not here to steal; we are here to talk!" I said in a low tone, though the way I am holding the sword doesn't seem like I wanted a friendly talk.

"I WAKE UP IN A BUGATTI-" Bobo yelled at the top of lungs, charging over to one of the tents and knocking out an unlucky rebel who came out of the tent at the wrong time.

This is war.

Chapter Text

Chapter 23

An Unexpecting Truce

Following with Bobo's first impression, I griped onto the grey handle of the energy sword before swinging it at the one of the rebels, forcing them to stutter backwards to dodge the deadly swing. Shadows grew larger as it engulfed me. I looked back to see a rebel standing behind me with his menacing eyes. His hands were about to wrap around my neck in attempt to immobilize me or chock me to death.

"JARD! DUCK!" a familiar masculine voice yelled out.

I did what I was told by the mysterious voice. I crouched, touching the dried texture of the clay. There was a vehicle roaring in the back of my mind. The rebel stood tall in confusion; his face was crunched up in anger as he watched the monstrous shadow covered us both. Then it was a fast cut scream as the giant vehicle collided with the rebel as he flew off at the other side of the so called 'arena'. 

I could not believe what I am seeing. The vehicle was gigantic with brightly colored spray paint covering its titanium cover. On the driver's seat was the man in a rebel uniform with blue attires wrapped around his arms. How on earth did Defect get a bloody monster truck?!

"What the-"

"No questions! Hope on!" Defect yelled, offering a hand from the top of the monster truck.

I grabbed onto his hand before pulling me up from the ground. One foot on the thick and pumped wheel, the other foot onto the ridge of the backseat. With a decent amount of the force from my legs, I rocketed my foot off the wheel before meeting both of my hands onto the top platform of the monster truck. 

"Alright! Let's end this!" Defect commented before turning the key again.

The engines roared with life. I looked forward to where that rebel was brutally pushed from the impact. I don't usually feel bad for people who were trying to kill me, but for that rebel who probably cracked all of his bones, that is a different story.

"Is that rebel going to be alright?" I asked in a concerned voice as Defect looked up to see his former comrade limping slight, standing up tall and rubbing his lightly fractured back.

"He's fine," Defect answered, rolling his eyes.

He cranked the level before my body was forced backward towards my seat as the monster truck accelerated at the speed of sound. The other rebels in a distance pointed their guns at the huge monstrous vehicle as it came closer and closer towards them. They began firing their bullets before reloading sounds filled the air. Their assault is pointless, charged bullets bounced off the heavy metal of the vehicle. As expected, the monster truck are meters away from the group. They threw themselves out of the way just in time before the monster truck collided with their previous wall. Defect turned the wheel, before sharply turning the truck as my body was forced at the truck door. He seriously has a habit of recklessly turning.

"Don't aim at the truck!" The leader yelled as the rest of the rebels were ready to listen, "AIM FOR THEIR HEADS!"

I watched as every rebel redirected their aims at the upper part of the truck before opening fire. Although they were still hitting the hard metal of the monster truck, I could hear the sound of the bullets hitting the surface closer and closer every second. The breaking point hits as soon as a bullet hole appeared on the window.

"HEY! WATCH WHERE YOU ARE POINTING YOUR GUN!" I screamed in anger, standing up from my seat before moving to the front of the monster truck.

My legs wobbled with each step, being careful not to fall off. I swung my energy sword, as bullets fly towards me. Even though this sword wasn't metal, it still deflected the dangerous shots, leaving behind nothing but red glowing sparks.

Now there was Bobo. While I was deflecting the bullets, Bobo seemed to be batting up a pile of rebels, who were heavily beaten up by a wooden bat. This child is a monster. He managed to bring down 5 rebels with nothing but his trusty baseball bat. 

Finally, there was the leader of the rebels in front of us. Standing on plane wing while watching us like a hawk. I turned to Defect who was still recklessly driving the vehicle.

"Defect, I want you to get Bobo! I will take on the leader!" I spoke.

Defect nodded in response as he drives closer towards the plane wing so that I could easily jump off the truck. Here goes my luck. Before Defect could take another sharp turn to pick up Bobo, I leaped into the air, hoping both of my feet lands on the metal plane wing. 

CLUNK

I nearly fell backwards, but I made it. I pointed my sword at the leader as he slowly walked backwards.

"You're that interdimensional navigator that worked for that stupid Elysium Corporation," he yelled in rage, drawing out his own silence pistol, "you don't bring a sword to a gun fight, mate!"

"THIS IS NOT A SWORD!" I yelled over the loud gunshots from a distance, "I mean, it is... BUT IT ISN'T ONE OF THOSE ORDINARY ONES!"

I heard a reload from the leader before aiming the pistol at my face. This was not going to end well. Loud gunshots were much closer than the ones in the background. Sweat dripped down my face as I swiftly swung the red energy sword, desperately trying to deflect the bullets.

A sharp pain extruded from my leg. There was a cold, metallic feeling before it passes through. I could feel liquid slowly pouring out of my lower skin. He must have aimed for my leg. Fuck! But I couldn't stop and cry about it. If I do, then I would die. I had to keep swinging the sword, no matter how much it hurts.

Then there was a loud siren noise. A human-like nextbot appeared out of the bushes. Defect and Bobo looked back to see the nextbot coming towards us.

All the rebels stopped shooting and investigated the unexpecting situation. 

"SHIT!" I yelled.

I tried to run from the platform, only to collapse on the plane wing again. My legs were bleeding out of control, it gives me a sharp sting every time I move it. The leader rushed towards me before lifting me up, putting my arms on his shoulders. His expression was different, he was wearing an empathetic face.

"God dammit, nextbots spawned here!" he muttered as he trotted down the broken airplane cockpit, "we couldn't fight now!"

"Why did you save me?" I asked in surprise; he was trying to kill me thirty seconds ago.

"I had checked the radar, nextbots are not supposed to spawn today. But oddly enough, they spawned," he replied.

He ran towards a safe tent before dropping me off. Defect stopped his monster truck on the side of the dusty and dry grass. He and Bobo jumped off the vehicle before running towards me.

"Jard! Are you alright?!" Bobo yelled in concern, observing my heavily bleeding leg.

"I'm alright," I replied, taking deep breaths to ignore the extreme pain, "but I don't think I could run any longer,"

Defect only blinked as he looked at the rebel leader who was pulling his cap down.

"Defected Rebel, tell him to call me 'Rebel' for now," he commanded before facing towards the charging nextbot, "we can handle this,"

Rebel runs over towards the nextbot before slightly moving in a jolty movement, juking the monster's fast movements. He looked at his comrades as they unpacked their backpacks and pulled out two silver poles.

"DO IT, BOYS!" he yelled as they came running into the battlefield.

The loud nextbot was confused, looking at its targets as they ran closer and closer to it. Finally, there were sounds of construction. Artifact like orange barriers appeared in front of the rebels as they formed into a giant hexagon, trapping the nextbot inside. In rage, the png monster runs itself into every corner, but it was no use, it has nowhere to run out. The leader of the pack walked in front of the nextbot, who was trying to escape as he smiled.

"This is what happens when you fuck with the wrong people,"

Rebel flipped off the nextbot before calmly and heavily trot towards us. He lifted his cap before sitting on the dry dirt beside me. 

"Thank you, Rebel," I said, letting my words slip out of my mouth.

"Now, tell me" He said in a serious tone, "Are you working for the Elysium Corporation,"

I cleared my throat while finding the correct words to say.

"I used to be part of them," I answered, looking at my shot leg, "as soon as I figured out what they did with the other workers, I stopped working for them because of their corrupt motives,"

Rebel looked at me in the eye. Instead of those harsh and cold stares, it was a soft and sorrowful manner.

"I should have known before, sorry that we shot you,"

Soon, Rebel's comrades gathered around, taking off their caps and resting them on their laps as they sat on the hard dirt. 

Chapter Text

Chapter 24

The Missing Cashier

Rebel tightened my leg with a soft bandaged. He wasn't the best at First Aid, but at least he was gentle with the wound, unlike Galf who would pluck out the worms from the wet ground.

"I would stay here a bit longer to chat with you guys again," Defect said, grabbing his silent pistol and shoving it down his military bag, "but Jard, Bobo and I got to get back to Galf's shop,"

"No problem!" Rebel answered with a straight smile, "me and the boys would probably see you around!"

Did Defect just forgotten why we went into this dimension in the first place?

"Wait! Rebel! We have a question to ask you!" I yelled as he looked at me, "do you know anything about her?"

I pulled out the sheet of paper from my pocket and pulled out the wanted poster that resembled a lot like Rose. Rebel grabbed the paper from my hands before looking closely at the paper, scanning every little detail on that inked poster.

"It looked as if it is the M.I.A," Rebel spoke, looking at me again with a serious expression, "we are trying to find her as well,"

"Was it because you wanted to rescue her from the misery of being chased by the Elysium Corporation like I did?" I asked, knowing that someone knew what happened.

Rebel shook his head.

"No, that wasn't the main reason," Rebel replied in slight sorrow and guilt, "you see, we are trying to get artifacts too. Rose or simply the M.I.A has so much valuable information on the locations of the artifacts. She is the only researcher who knows the patterns of the artifacts spawn locations. Some even say she knows how the artifacts are even created in different dimensions,"

"Woah, she must have been travelling to dimensions and staying in there for an hour!" Bobo added, leaning on his baseball bat.

"Sounds crazy, but it is true," Rebel continued, fiddling with his pistol in his hands, "it was the reason why she ran away from the Elysium Corporation; it wasn't long to make her notice that they are doing nothing but using her to locate artifacts before it was announced to spawn,"

Back then, Rose was working for the Elysium Corporation for a long time ever since I joined. If Rose does know all the information about the artifact's location, how come they needed me for all the navigating? Was it all for nothing?

"Of course, Rose refused to spread her research. As a result, she ran away from the corporation when it was her time to hand in all of her data," Rebel said, "for us rebels, we thought it was a good opportunity to steal her information. So, Jard, I am assuming that you are trying to find her to win her heart?"

"What?! Who even told you that?!" I screamed in shock and embarrassment as Bobo rolled on the floor crying, "and no! I do NOT have a crush on her! Why does everyone ask me this?!"

"Admit it, Jard! You said you once had a crush on her!" Bobo got up, pulling himself together.

"Shut up,"

"We should really get going," Defect interrupted, staring at the radar from my backpack.

"Alright!" I said covering my face partially from the situation.

I dropped my backpack before putting the radar closer to my mouth. I licked around my lips so that the dried cracks were moistured and ready to go.

"Galf! We are heading back,"

A silence was the next thing we heard. I waited patiently as the communication device was awaiting for his response.

"Galf?"

Another pause of silence was ahead of us. I assume that Galf was busy. He could be taking a shower, talking to his nextdoor shopkeeper or simply just outside taking Lemon for a walk in his arms. Who knows. But what matters now was now that we are stuck in the Rebel's base.

"Is Galf not responding?" Rebel asked, leaning closer towards me to inspect the radar.

Defect facepalmed by Galf's unresponsive communication or rather trying to figure out what happened. Galf wasn't the type of person who would abandon his comrades out with a group of dangerous people.

"If you needed to get back to Galf's shop, we can help you," one of the rebels from the crowd suggested, "we usually travel to different dimensions too and we usually stop by at Galf's shop to buy some military uniform and items,"

"Can you show us the way?" Defect asked.

Rebel nodded as a response as he stood up from his crouching position.

"Come with me," he said, offering me a hand.

I grabbed onto his hand as tightly as I could as my legs wobbled. It has been a long time ever since I stood up. As my back is straight, so are my legs. The shot leg was still wounded, but it felt like it wasn't shot in the first place. Rebel was an amazing medkit person.

As we walked up the crashed plane with Defect and Bobo following behind us, Rebel pulled out a triangular device, similar to an artifact that I had found during an expedition a month ago.

"Is that the bronze teleporter?" I asked, looking at the artifact's amazing bronze texture.

"It is, I bought it from Galf's shop," he answered, fiddling with the teleporter for a bit.

Maybe Galf's shop wasn't as empty as a bar in the middle of a desert after all.

The rest of the rebels climbed onto the plane wing, awaiting for their leader to give out his next commands.

"Sir! Do you want us to follow you?" A rebel exclaimed among the crowd.

"You all stay here! I will be coming back as soon as I send these fuckers back to their dimension,"

"EXCUSE M-"

"Yes, sir!" the rebels replied in unison before Bobo could finish his sentence.

One by one, they crouched down to the plane wing before jumping off, landing on both of their feets onto the clay surface. I am surprised none of them had broken a leg yet. Rebel watched as the last of his comrade hoped off, he looked at Bobo, Defect and I with his red eyes before motioning his hands towards the neon orange glow in the middle of the triangular teleporter.

"Hope in, it will take you back to Galf's shop," he explained.

Without hesitation, Bobo took one step into the glowing platform before his body disappeared into the small breeze. Followed by Defect who jumped onto the platform like a toddler splashing puddles. Now it was me. I closed my eyes before lifting my recently shot leg over the teleporter and leaned forward.

A wooshing sound flew past me before I opened my eyes. A confused and worried expression was painted on my face.

I couldn't tell if it was Galf's shop anymore. All the windows were smashed open, leaving bits of glass and debris everywhere. The hinges of the doors were broken, with one of the door hanging onto the last remaining hinge.

"Galf? Are you alright?" Defect yelled.

There was no response.

"We should go in," Bobo said in a serious tone.

I looked at Bobo, usually he is all happy no matter what situation we are in. This time, he looked like someone took all of his sugars out of his life. His energy was drained just by looking at this disaster.

I walked through the broken hinges of the door. His shop was a room of mess. All of the artifacts had seemed to disappear as if I hadn't touched them at all. The walls were painted on the floor and the walls of the shop. Did Galf have a robbery attack? A slip of material got stuck to my shoes like a piece of bubblegum. I yanked it before opening it up, the colour of the paper had a famaliar simple. The Elysium Coporation. What were they doing here?

"Galf!" I yelled once again, searching for hope that he was still with us.

No call back. Oh no.

In desperation, I ran towards the front counter where Galf keeps all of the money he had paid me and stored in. 

On the desk, it was nothing. Nothing but a plain red cap that had been smudged in small red liquid. It was Galf's cap. What happened to him? He was fine an hour ago! Did he get attacked by the Elysium staff? What if he is dead?! All of those memories we had together, working together to pay each other's debts. I had failed to protect him from those monsters.

I drew the red cap closer to my chest. Cold tears slid down my cheeks as the lump in my throat grew larger and larger. My body couldn't stop shaking and sobbing sounds fell out of my mouth. I stared at the cold dark floor and watched my tears drip onto the wooden flooring. This sadness and this loss wasn't for the money anymore.

"GALF!"

Chapter Text

Chapter 25

Downpour of Emotions

My back faced the tough sheets. Every node of my spine ached, making my head spinning with guilt and loss. The pillow was severely soaked from the overnight breakdown. I was severely dehydrated with no more tears to cry out. I limped from my sleeping position, staring at the old, cracked wall in front of me.

Even the sky cried with sorrow. Rain came pouring outside the apartment, the raindrop clashed with the roof. I leaned forward before slowly launching myself from the edge of my bed. Step by step, I walked closer towards the closed the window and watched the droplets racing down the bottom of the oxidized windowsill. I felt the pain as the clouds wept with sorrow.

Next to me was Galf's hat. It looked at me, probably spitting out beautiful curse words into the thin air for letting its owner die. I wrapped my hands around the underside and lifting it to my eye level. 

"I am sorry, Galf..." I croaked as the dryness of the lump in my throat made it header for me to speak.

I walked towards the clothes rack while yanking my black hoodie off the rack before putting it over my blank white shirt. I took a last glance at my black cap and my backpack before I walked past towards the door. Both of them glanced at me with puppy eyes, pleading me to take them with me. I looked away, looking away from the shame of the loss of a friend. I closed the door, leaving my messy hair take a breath of the tight hallways. 

I opened the door; it was still raining cats and dogs. Drops of water soaked into my black hoodie. It was freezing, but why should I care? The only lights that brightly guided my way are the streetlights, with tiny buys eagerly soaking up the radiant in this heavy rain. It must have been fun for them.

My feet stopped as I looked at my final destination. Small food market, my old friend. I had probably collected a shitload of money during my travels. I felt really guilty spending it, especially when it had the touch of Galf's fingerprints. I took a deep breath before pushing the door into the shop. There was the shopkeeper again, looking up from his newspaper.

"Hello, Jard! You seem to have forgotten your cap," he said in a bright tone, watching me walk past him and into one of the stalls.

"I know. I just didn't feel like wearing it today," I answered, dragging myself in the malls before grabbing a pack of instant noodles.

I stopped in front of the shopkeeper, who lifted his newspaper down and try and see my face. I pulled the hoodie over my head as a reaction.

"You seemed to be feeling under the weather, Jard. Are you alright?" the shopkeeper asked in concern.

When he scanned the noodles and I had paid the price, I turned around to leave the place. I would usually smile back at the shopkeeper, giving them a friendly wave before disappearing in the corners of the streets. Today was different, I completely left the food store, leaving the shopkeeper stunned, worried and confused.

Galf's shop was right in front of me. I could feel every wall laughing at me on how stupid I was to leave my friend in such a tight and dangerous situation. Why do I even still care? Galf was probably dead already and there is no way in bringing him back. I sat on the ledge, next to the clearly smashed open door where there was less debris scattered on the concrete.

It seems I was waiting for the rain to pass over, but the clouds above me were thick, crying out drops of tears nonstop. I bobbed my head down, letting the rest of my tears out. It wasn't even the afternoon, and I am tired. At that moment I felt a gentle brush against my skin. It was Lemon. She was probably mourning over her owner's disappearance or death too. I realized how we both are in the situation together. I kneeled down to touch the kitten again, her soft yellow fur spreads along my fingers, giving me the last of her warmth and comfort.

"I know. I know," I whispered as the cat purred in sorrow, "I missed Galf too. He's my best friend. We are in the same boat,"

I lost track of time; how long had I been sitting on the perch of what it used to be a shop filled with expensive but a row of masterpieces? It had seemed that minutes turned into hours. I stood up from my seat, pulling my hoodie strings tighter to eliminate the surrounding in my vision. I used to be a navigator; I understand why I quit my job. I was lost. Lost in my own thoughts.

It wasn't long before I arrived in my small apartment once again. My cap and backpack greeted me as I took off my hoodie and laid on my bed. I closed my eyes for a few minutes. I had passed the first day of this downpour of emotions. I would need to grind the rest of my days until the grim reaper was standing beside me with a rose. 

Then there was a light knock on the door.

"Jard?"

That sounds like Bobo. What does he want?

"FUCK OFF!" I muffled in my blanket.

There was no response. Thank goodness. I closed my eyes for a rest, they had been holding the bags of tiredness throughout the door. They deserved it.

I was interrupted by the sounds of door smashing. I dragged my blanket downwards to see who it was. Defect kicked open the door like the time at the underground facility. With a straight face, he walked over and sat on the bed next to me.

"You don't have to hold this in, Jard," Defect spoke as I sat up from my bed, "we know you missed Galf. We missed Galf too,"

"There is no other way anymore," I mumbled, the lump grew bigger into my throat, choking me from every word, "we couldn't just revive Galf out of the blue,"

"Actually, we know that Galf probably isn't dead yet," Bobo commented, looking down at the floor with his blue visor blocking his eyes.

I paused and looked at Bobo.

"He's not?" I answered.

"Maybe, but Defect and I investigated Galf's shop one more time and found an interesting discovery," Bobo explained, "On his billboard, there was a location in the Elysium Tower dimension. I assume that Galf was kidnapped, not killed,"

I blinked, maybe there is some hope in this world. I swiftly turned to Defect.

"Is this true?" I asked him, confirming Bobo's theory, "is it true that Galf would still be alive?"

Defect shrugged before smiling, a hint of tears forming at the corner of his eyes.

"Likely," he responded, spreading his arms.

I couldn't hold back the tears any longer. I lunged at Defect, giving him a hug. Maybe there was a chance to save Galf after all. It was like a campfire being lit in a hut in the middle of a snowstorm. Of course, I pulled away afterwards.

"But how are we supposed to save Galf from all those Elysium creeps?" I asked as a realization hits me, "I mean, there is only the three of us and they have an army,"

Bobo smiled, looking at me with awe.

"When did we say we are doing this alone?"

A group of people emerged from the door. They all wore the same military as uniform with red attires wrapped around their arms. The middle of them was the tallest, with a familiar face painted in my mind.

"Rebel?" I said, almost choking on my own spit.

"After discovering Galf was kidnapped, I found it outrageous. We are coming with you!" Rebel said as the rest of the rebels agreeing to each other, nodding their heads.

"Yeah! We won't let those motherfuckers take our friend away from us too!" one of the rebels yelled from the crowd.

"Galf is our priority now! We are going to shoot every one of those stupid Elysium members!" another rebel added, making the group of rebels cheered.

There was a sudden brightness lit inside of me. Defect grabbed my cap before walking towards me again.

"Say, are you in it with us?"

I smiled, taking the cap before putting it on, turning it backwards as I leaned out of my bed.

"Gentleman, we are going to save Galf!" I announced, "and I got a plan,"

Chapter Text

Chapter 26

CatJard

"Umm, Jard? Are you sure that is going to work?" Rebel asked, looking up and down to scan the small collapsed classroom.

"I am sure!" I confidently answered.

It wasn't really a classroom, nor it was a school. It was still Galf's used to a shop, there was only one billboard and one urging lesson to teach. It was only supposed to be designed for one student only. I lightly slapped the tip of the ruler onto the billboard, showing Bobo's poorly drawn sketch of the Elysium staff.

"You see this person here? All I want you to do is run away from him," I informed, looking at the 'student', "since that you are a cat, you can easily dodge the bullets with your amazing reflexes,"

Lemon mewed in response; I am assuming that she understood every word that spits out of my mouth. However, the others were shaking their heads in disagreement. Bobo was laughing while both Defect and the Rebels facepalmed in disappointment.

"I get the idea, but she is a cat! She cannot understand human language!" Defect commented as Bobo kneeled down to pat Lemon, "besides, I don't think those guards are stupid enough to think that furball is you,"

"Can we just give this a chance, Defect?" I said, dropping my shoulders letting the ruler touch the floor, "Lemon knows what she is doing!"

Lemon slumped her head over the table, tired of us arguing over my upcoming plan. I sighed before lifting up the ruler to the board again, pointing a drawn sketch of a yellow cat. Because of its neat outlines, you could clearly tell that Defect drew it.

"While you distract the guards, we get into the control room and look at their security cameras. At that point, we could pinpoint the location of where the Elysium Corporation might be keeping Galf,"

Lemon nodded in response. I smiled boastfully at Defect, proving my point to him.

"Honestly, I thought you were stupid. But this is an entire new level," Defect responded with a straight face.

I frowned.

"Thank you," I sarcastically answered.

Rebel stood up from Lemon's small box desk before loading his pistol.

"FUCK THAT PLAN! HOW ABOUT WE DO THIS?" he screamed.

He aimed his pistol at the billboard. Before I could speak a single word, a huge gunshot sound split the sound barrier. I looked at the board again. There was a small bullet hole penetrated through the board, straight through the drawn Elysium guard's head.

"Rebel!" I yelled, raising my voice.

"Sorry, had the urge to do that," he shrugged, putting his pistol back into his backpack.

Lemon's hair stuck out like a pufferfish; Rebel's gunshot must have scared the shit out of her. I put the ruler back on the desk and looked at the small yellow cat smiling.

"That is what we want you to do,"

I reached into my bag before pulling out my spare black hoodie and a spare black cap. I gently laid them next to Lemon in a neat fold. I am sometimes a neat freak when it comes to clothing, particularly these ones.

"Now, I just need to put this shit on you,"

---

We had arrived at the Elysium Corporation, Rebel figured out which device Galf used to travel us to different dimensions. The giant orange building stood tall, resisting the heavy breeze blowing on it. The two doors were shut close, but on my past experience on checking doors, they seemed to be forgotten to lock it. It must have been lunch time as there was nobody around the area. It was only me, Bobo, Defect, Lemon and the rebels. 

My hands gently squeezed Lemon, slightly lifting up her worn black hoodie and backwards black cap. As expected, there were guards standing behind those doors, which perfectly fits the plan. 

"This is so stupid..." Defect whispered.

"Have you done this type of thing before?" I replied silently.

"No, but-"

"Okay, then shut up,"

I creeped towards the entrance, slipping my fingers on the iron bars wrapped around the enclosed gate. Being very careful not to expose my position, I pushed the doors open.

"Huh? Did that door just open by itself?" I heard a curious guard said.

"I am not sure, let's go investigate,"

At that moment, I heard footsteps coming closer and closer. My plan was going into the flow; going exactly how I wanted. It was time to release the cat. I relaxed my fingers, letting Lemon slide out of my hands and into the entrance of the door.

"Oh, it's just a cat," the guard said, looking down at his feet before Lemon looked up at him, "though, it does have some resemblance to that interdimensional navigator,"

Lemon was frozen in her place. The only movement in her body was her small furry chest going up and down. She wasn't running out or even moving a single muscle in her legs, only sitting and waiting for the guards to become suspicious of what is happening. What is she doing? Did she forget the plan already? Maybe Defect was right, this was such a stupid plan-

"HISSSSSSSS!"

At that moment, Lemon leaped into the air before clamping her claws into one of the guards face.

"AAAA! GET IT OFF ME!" he screamed in pain as Lemon continued scratching his face, leaving blood on her claws and cheeks.

The other guard watched in horror as he prepared to turn back and run for his life, only to attract Lemon attention, making her leap and using her first victim as a launchpad. Soon, I heard more footsteps echoing in a distance, probably more guards to rescue the unfortunate one. It has not been 10 seconds; I already heard screams of terror from the guards. They were breathing heavily, crying, screaming and yelling for their mums.

"OH NO! IT'S CATJARD!" one of the guards screamed before his voice muffled.

"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" another added.

Then it was silence, all of the guards seem to be gone. Defect, Bobo and the Rebels emerged out of the bushes before walking into the entrance.

It was a mess.

Scratch marks were printed on the floor and the walls with a small smudge of tomato sauce color and there was a guard's helmet being left alone by its original owner. Rebel smirked and chuckled a bit, putting his hands on his hips.

"It worked after all," he said, "you're maybe much smarter than you look, Jard,"

"That...... wasn't even part of the plan," I answered, looking at Rebel and giving him a shrug, "but if it works, then it works,"

"We should head over to the control room before the guards get back here to find out what was really happening," Bobo suggested.

"Good idea," I answered.

Defect looked at the signs above us. With glint in his eyes, he looked for the word "control room" before pointing to the left, leading to a dark hallway.

"It's that way," he answered.

"On it!"

We picked up our pace, racing for the control room.

We are coming for you, Galf.

Chapter Text

Chapter 27

Coward

Every second, Jard's legs picked up the pace. He felt the walls were only getting closer and closer as he eyed to his destination, a destination in hoping to win his friend back from the grasp in a secret corrupt organization.

"Found it!" Defect whispered, pointing at an almost hidden door.

The door was not a mystery nor some kid's easter hunt. It has a dark wooden texture with clear golden letters labelling it's name. The Control Room, the exact place Jard was looking for. He reached his hand over to the handle before slowly turning it. Though, he didn't really think twice into this plane.

"Who's there?"

It was one of the Elysium security guards. She was wearing a white and grey uniform with a slight splash of orange on her side of her Elysium Uniform. Jard stood in front of the door, exposing his appearance to the guard for a handful amounts of seconds. Of course, this was a stupid move, it didn't take her to realize that Jard was the photo in that wanted poster, pinned to the walls of every hallway in the Elysium Tower.

"Hey! Aren't you that interdimensional traitor that every guard had been talking about," she stuttered, fearing the rebels behind Bobo as they walked in.

In a life and death situation like this, she grabbed a mop at the side of the room, lifting it high before charging at Jard, threatening to knock him out with the stick. Before Jard could react, Rebel walked behind him and putting his hand over his shoulders.

"Don't worry, let me handle this,"

As soon as the lady passed Rebel, he pulled out his silenced pistol and punted the poor security guard with the nuzzle. From the huge strength and massive impact, the guard fell to the ground. She is now unconscious, a giant red mark from the back of her neck could be clearly seen. Bobo made an "ouch" expression on his face as Defect slowly clapped his hands.

"Nice job," Defect said, "but I also wished Trooper taught you more on manners,"

"Oh, shut up! You're saying that just because she is a girl!" Rebel shot back quietly, putting his pistol back into the backpack.

Jard looked at the unconscious guard before looking at the group.

"Bobo, I want you to tie her up before she wakes up again. Defect and Rebel I want you two to watch the door just in case another crazy guard walks in and creates a bigger mess!" Jard explained, typing on the keyboard in front of him, "in the meantime, I will try and search for Galf on every computer screen to see where they would keep him,"

Bobo nodded as he grabbed the security guard and wrapping her tightly with a strong rope. Defect crouched down from the door and put his ears against the walls, ensuring to remind the group for sudden movements from the outside. Jard made his way through his boring security camera crews as he skips every channel without his friend being involved, but the only things he is getting were average Elysium Corporation communications and rookies taking a break in the lunchroom. Hearing them talking about how they caught a person who knows a lot about the artifacts tuned Jard more and more, knowing that Galf was definitely somewhere in the Elysium Towers.

Finally, there one of the faces caught Jard's attention on the 35th channel. Galf is in a tight situation. He has his hands tied up to the orange pole behind him with two strong guards beside him to look out for intruders trying to untie him. He noticed some horrific details on his friend. There were whip marks along his forehead bruises printed on his cheeks. He could clearly see the blood dripping down from the large cut across his cheeks. It fueled his anger; he clenched on the mouse.

Jard snarled with disgust at the person that shadowed over his friend. It was the leader of the Elysium Corporation; they were the reason why he was jungled up into this mess. Heck, they were the reason why Galf was here in the first place.

Jard slipped his hand into his backpack before pulling out his red glowing sword once again. He looked at Defect, Rebel and Bobo.

"There is no point in running away anymore," Jard spoke, making Defect sit up to take in his words, "from all those fucking days; with all those running around those stupid nextbots encouraged us to run away!"

"Aren't they dangerous though?" Rebel said, raising his eyebrows.

"I know that, but I understand them. They were there to protect the artifact from being stolen," Jard continued, "but this? This is exceptional,"

He raised his sword up to his chest level with the blade horizontally aligning with his chest, showing his teammates the sparkling and ominous glowing red texture.

"Sure, the Elysium Corporation is a strong company with an army, but stealing and hurting Galf is the last straw!" he stated, bittered by the invisible scars from Galf.

He looked at Defect and Rebel.

"It had been a lot changed when I met you two. We used to be enemies, having guns and swords directly at each other's hearts. But look at where we are now, we are here to save our friend,"

He then looked at Bobo, who looked up and ready to listen.

"And you, Bobo. You had been helping me throughout my journey. You at least changed my mind about nextbots... just a little... But without you, I wouldn't be here,"

Bobo smiled, thanking his friend's compliment, but curious on why he would be saying this in a desperate situation.

"So, Jard," Defect interrupted, "why are you saying this at this moment?"

Jard didn't respond. He walked directly at the security door. With great force, he flung the door open. Letting the door slam behind the walls, causing massive echoes across the hallway. Rebel looked at him like if went crazy.

"JARD! ARE YOU NUTS?! THEY CAN HERE THAT!" Rebel yelled, before Defect put his hands on his shoulders, telling him to stop shouting.

Jard stopped at the door entrance, with one leg in the security room and the other in the hallway. He paused for a few seconds from Rebel's recent comment. Bobo stood up and walked beside Defect, watching the tight tension bubbling to snap. There was silence in the room, even the people from the main area of the tower could be heard from afar. 

"I am tired of being a coward," Jard broke the silence, lowering his sword with his muscle tightened fist, "usually, I would run away, drunk myself in colas and wait until I get back home. This time, I will not leave with a fight. I am not leaving without that fucking leader bleed out. I am doing this for Galf,"

Another silence filled the space. Jard looked back to see his team mates having an amused and shocked expression his face. He wondered it was because that he said he wanted to fight an entire army of orange Elysium guards or the part where he literally said he waned to see the Elysium leader bleed to death. Either way, he was fine with it.

"Are you guys coming with me?" he asked one last time.

They looked at each other, not knowing whether Jard was doing the right thing. Finally, Defect and Rebel pulled out their pistols while Bobo acquired his baseball bat. 

"We are coming and ready," Bobo confirmed, before him, Rebel and Defect walked out the door, declaring the last war on the Elysium Corporation. 

Chapter Text

Chapter 28

GAME OVER

Galf struggled at his feet. He looked directly at the leader at he smiled frantically, watching him slowly suffering from his dirty wounds. He did not react explosively, the only thing he was responding with was a cold stare directly into the leader's cold green eyes. 

"I will ask you one more time, Galf," Leader repeated, leaning forward a little closer to the cashier's face, "where are your secret files of all the maps and artifact information,"

"Never," Galf harshly answered.

Leader raised his hand like a signal as one of the guards pointed their pistol at Galf, shooting out a piercing bullet to his upper arm. A loud gunshot filled the air, followed by the red cashier's loud grunt. Blood drooled from his sleeve. He wasn't like if he's bleeding until the blood surpassed his red sleeves and down his to his elbow. He gritted his teeth in pain, munching the sharp signals yelling at him to notice or even react. He could do nothing but look away and pretend that there wasn't anything bad. Leader frowned, unimpressed and bored by Galf's lack of reaction.

"You could shoot me, burn me alive; kill me even! No matter what you will do, I will never spit out anything in your orders!" Galf yelled, clenching his fists from the anger and pain, "once someone comes and helps me, you are going to hell!"

Leader only laughed, followed by the rest of his army's laughter.

"We are the Elysium Corporation; under the satellite of every government you know," Leader informed in a mocking expression, "who's going to stop me?"

"I am..."

Leader was surprised by a cold teenage tone as he looked behind him. There was Jard, tightly holding the handle of the red energy sword. Behind him are his friends. Defect and Rebel reloaded their pistol while Bobo held the bat to his side with a huge smile on his face. Jard opened his mouth again.

"... and my newly bonded friends too,"

The orange uniformed leader rolled his eyes, sticking out his foot and dramatically spun around. He looked at Jard, smiling with a menacing glee to see his ex-worker again. Though, the fury in the backwards cap teenager's eyes frightened him slightly.

"Well, isn't it the interdimensional navigator," he said clapping slowly while his men redirected their aim at Jard, Bobo, Defect and Rebel, "very nice to see you again, Jard,"

"Don't play bullshit, Leader!" Jard ululated, pointing his glowing sword at him, "I am going to shred you for everything you had done to Galf,"

"Galf?" Leader repeated, moving to the side, letting Jard see a severely beaten Galf on the floor, "you mean this guy?"

Galf looked up from his face planted position to see his navigator. He blinked; small tears formed in his eyes.

"Jard?"

That was the very last straw for Jard. He looked at Bobo as his friend turned his head, wondering what's Jard's next orders. 

"Do it, Bobo," he commanded.

Bobo responded with a tilted head, confused on what Jard was talking about. Do what? Run and snatch Galf from his miserable position? To run up to Leader and beat him to death with his fist. Jard paused for a few seconds before focusing back into the situation.

"You know, the thing you did at the moonbase?" Jard said in a much calmer and lower tone.

"Oh! Why haven't you said so?" Bobo replied, understanding what Jard meant.

The young humanoid nextbot stepped forward, walking closer and closer to Leader who could do nothing but watch Bobo coming close to his personal space. He stopped about one meter close to Leader's face. Jard covered his ears, preparing for the worst. His smile grew wider and wide as Leader twisted his face in disgust.

"Okay, what on earth are you doing-"

Leader was interrupted by the sudden screech. Bobo filled the room with his putrid and unbearable tune. Even the Elysium guards couldn't stand it, they clenched the sides of their heads in attempt to block out the noise. At this point, almost everyone in the tower were caught up from the loud demonic shriek. 

Finally, Bobo shuts his mouth. The screeching dies down, everyone cleared their ears. Leader was fumed, completely offended how a small child like Bobo would suddenly walk up to him and start screaming out an unholy sound. 

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT?! YOU NEARLY MADE EVERYONE IN THIS TOWER DEAF!" Leader yelled out, but Bobo stayed smiling.

Leader looked up to Jard, who was also smiling. He knew something was definitely wrong. It was a complete silence for a few seconds. Only after a while, a feint sound of hip hop music echoed in the chambers of the main room.

"Do you hear that?" one guard asked, looking at another.

The music got louder and louder. It wasn't long before figures started appearing over the horizon. It was the tiny Bobo gremlins again, ready to shred everyone into shreds. Rebel caught the signal as he pulled out the radio from his pocket. He pulled it near his mouth.

"GET EM' BOYS!" 

From every corner of hiding spots in the Elysium Tower, rebels emerged as they came crashing down and began shooting the Elysium Guards. 

It was chaos in under 10 seconds. It was a mini war between the rebellion team and the secret organization. The sound of gunfire filled the sky with gun holes printed on the orange and white wallpapers. Red energy swipes were visible, slicing the air and some unlucky guards. There were bonking sounds made by Bobo, who enjoyed watching the guards fall to their knees.

Jard watched Defect closely who is walking backwards as the guards walked closer and closer, shooting him with their assault rifle. Behind Defect was another guard, who seemly jumped right behind him.

"Defect behind you!" Jard yelled, deflecting a bullet with his red energy sword.

"Huh?"

Defect swiftly sidestep as the bullet fired. It was a quick and lucky escape, the bullet pierced through his comrade as he fell down. It took a while for Defect to realize looking at Jard and giving him a thumbs up.

"No problem!" Jard responded, turning his attention back to slicing the army of guards.

The guards kept coming, all lined up in a 3 by 3 group from every direction of the tower. It was like an endless zombie wave game. Jard heard an overwhelming and terrifying shriek filled his ears. He turns around, drawing his attention towards Bobo. His friend was in deep trouble, he was completely surrounded by the guards, not even the rate of the bat could take out that many in time.

"Bobo!" Jard yelled, taking a sharp turn with his feet and ran over to him in attempt to support him in his fight.

Anxiety rose in his bloodstream to find one guard pointing their gun directly at the back of Bobo's head. In desperation, Jard leaped at the bullet line.

Bang.

Jard slides across the floor, landing on his side. He was shot once again, but this time, at his chest. He coughed out cold blood, painting the Limonium floor with beautiful shades red. The red sword slides on the floor before it was stopped by a massive boot, stepping on its handle. Leader smiled, looking at Jard bleeding out on the floor.

"JARD!" Bobo yelled, turning around to see his friend suffering on the cold floor.

"Jard!" Defect responded in fear.

Rebel's face turned bitter as he tried to charge at Leader for what he had done, only to be held back by three guards. That goes the same for all of his buddies, one by one, they were arm locked by the army. Bobo tried to run towards Jard, ensuring whether he is still alive, only for his hand to be locked into the leader's.

"Now, let me finish my speech, shall we?" Leader said cunningly, picking up Jard's red sword and dragging his almost empty husk on the ground, "I am honestly proud of how you showed up all of the sudden,"

Galf's eyes followed and watched his long-term friend being dragged by the monster. He watched him aggressively thrust Jard onto the Elysium Tower wall, making sure that he is sitting up straight. Jard coughed a bit more, looking up at Leader, gritting his teeth in anger. He wanted to fight back, but he could feel his body beginning to fail.

"Unfortunately, I had won the war and I always will. That is Game Over for you," Leader continued lifting the energy sword at Jard's stomach height, "goodbye, navigator,"

With a heavy force, he stabbed Jard right into the stomach. He gagged for a split second, then he lowered his head down, letting the rest of the blood leave from his mouth. It doesn't seem like he would wake up in a few minutes or even days. There is silence in the room. Bobo's eyes filled with tears and Galf's eyes widened as plates. Defect and the rebels were stunned in silence. 

Jard is gone.

Chapter Text

Chapter 29

???

"Take them away, I will deal with the body," Leader commanded his men, "to the chambers, I will think about what I will do with them later,"

The Elysium guards looked at each other, not knowing that killing a young 19-year-old was even a great idea. Finally, they looked back at Leader and saluted to his commands. With their tough muscles, they dragged Jard's former teammates towards the deeper hallway to the left of the towers. One of the heavier guards picked up Galf by the shirt collar before following the others. The team was slumped and exhausted from the fight against the Elysium guards, expect Rebel and his gang, who were struggling against the tough guards and spitting beautiful curse words into the air.

Bobo could do nothing but waited for his friend to wake up. Jard was as still as a statue with his closed eyes stuck staring at the red painted floor. Before he was coughing, but now he was completely silent, not even the sound of life. Maybe his instincts were right, his friend was probably never coming back.

"Oh, by the way, torture them with the kept nextbots while I am busy," Leader added, which made Defect's heart jumped with fear.

The cyan visor humanoid nextbot watched Jard as the guard pulled him further and further away from him. For a split second, he thought he saw a slight movement in Jard's hand.

"Maybe I was only hallucinating" Bobo thought, looking down at his feet, "even my mind missed him too,"

They were taken to a chamber along the left hallway. The leading guards walked forward, unlocking the heavy lock before opening it up. Rebel resisted, trying to make his escape by kicking around, but it was no use, the guards were as tough as steel. The next thing Bobo knew was that they were brutally thrown into the room followed by the sound of a locked door. They were trapped.

The room is cubical, but rather large. Painted with pure white and orange stripes wrapping around the room. Every wall was pure metal, expect the one in front of them, which was made from strong bullet proof glass. One the other side of the bullet proof glass were a group of researchers. One of them hovered over some buttons. Although the glass was thick, it was really clear on what they were saying for Bobo.

"Release the nextbots," One of the researchers said as the other pressed the button.

A platform shifted above Defect, Rebel, Bobo and the rebels as an eerie sound filled in the room as it grew louder and louder.

"YIPEEEE,"

Finally, the creature landed. The autism creature nextbot, anybody's worst enemy and partially wen times in an extremely tight room. At that moment, the creature looked at its surroundings, having its hungry eyes locked on Defect.

"Holy, shit-"

--- Meanwhile ---

Leader was outside, digging in the courtyard next to his newly planted green trees. Some of the guards left behind, holding Jard's lifeless body and ready to fill in the grave hole with it. They leaned the body against the tree, with the sword being perpendicular to the tree's trunk. Not like a body was going to move anywhere, right?

The leader of the Elysium faced towards his nearby peers.

"I would gladly say that this was the day of the interdimensional navigator's death," Leader announced with a small roar of a crowd being followed, "today, we will bury him right in the garden of where the plants collect most of its nutrients,"

Another cheer roared at the outside of the Elysium Tower as Leader reached his hand to grab Jard's hoodie collar. Only for his face to be melted in a terrifying shock. 

Jard growled in response when Leader has his hands inches close to his collar. He was shocked, was he still alive all along. Pretending to be unamused, Leader commanded his men to shoot him again. Another loud gunshot, this time piercing through Jard's arm. Instead of the expected red dull liquid, it was green and glowing as bright as the glow worms at the Catacombs. The guards were stunned in fear, something in that stuff simply wasn't right.

Leader flinched as he watched Jard's so-called 'lifeless body' lift his hand before grabbing the handle on his chest. At that moment, his sword turned from red to glowing green, fearing many hearts of the Elysium guards. 

"N-no... Is that the corruptor?" one of the guards shuttered in fear, "it couldn't mean-"

Jard stood from the position, his head lifting up, showing his face. It hasn't changed much, but only one featured changed everything about him. His menacing glowing green eyes. He opened his mouth before letting out the most horrendous cry at the militarized crowd. It was low and distorted, similar to a hungry carnivore in a horror movie.

He eyed his first victim, a guard who is unnoticed by his strange presence. He lunged at him like a snake, scarring him with a massive slice of the green energy sword. The other guards and Leader watched in horror as Jard ripped through his victim's flesh with his newly formed sharp teeth. First was the skin, then the muscles and finally the guts like the heart and intestines, all of this was going to make Leader puke. 

After a while, he looked dead eye at Leader with an amputated leg. Leader could do nothing but stare at the green glowing saliva that ran down from Jard's mouth. Jard dropped the amputated leg and launched himself right at the leader, with his dagger like teeth aiming towards Leader's neck.

---

"I don't think I can run like this any longer!" Bobo complained before juking the Yippee by pouncing against the wall.

"We are stuck like this, I guess," Galf said in a serious and a worry tone as he used another cigarette.

"Now I wish I was the one who got stabbed," Rebel yelled, reloading his pistol and firing at the damn nextbot.

Then there was a loud racket at the other side of the room. The autism creature stopped chasing and looked at the watch window. Sounds of screams were muffled by the bullet proof glass as a strange familiar face flashed before everyone's eyes. Defect blinked in surprise.

"Jard?" Galf said, his tone lightened as he dropped the cigarette and pressed against the glass.

All Galf saw was horror. He noticed Jard's eyes were glowing with corrupting glowing lime. He watched as he shredded the stuff, ripping them one by one and feasting on their flesh just like his other two unfortunate victims. He watched glowing green saliva dripped between his razor-sharp teeth. He watched his friend becoming a monster.

"Does Jard always do that?" Rebel said in concern, raising an eyebrow, "because I hope not,"

"Of course, he doesn't," Defect answered, "it just so happened once after we did an expedition at the Catacombs,"

"Catacombs? Where's that?"

"Ask Galf later,"

The room fell silent. Bloody handprints were painted on the walls of the room with blood sprayed on the grey carpet. Jard stood in the middle of the room, surrounded by dead and somewhat half-eaten researchers. He held his green sword tightly as his glowing green eyes darted right at Galf and the others. His black clothing was slightly painted with blood and glowing lime saliva drooling from his monster like mouth.

"You did it, Jard! We are so proud of you!" Rebel yelled followed by the cheer of the rebels.

"Rebel... I don't think Jard is Jard anymore..." Defect responded.

Jard's legs picked up pace at the glass, banging on it like a wild animal while making distorted and horrific cries. Bobo jumped in fear as the rebels' smiles fell. They were the next on his list. Galf on the other hand, walked closer as his friend breaks through the glass with the sword.

"What are you doing, Galf! You are going to get yourself killed!" Defect yelled, hugging Bobo in protection, preparing for the worst.

Galf looked back, he was prepared to sacrifice himself for the very last time.

"I know that murderous motherfucker would probably kill and shred us like it did with the researchers," Galf said in a calm voice, "but he is still Jard!"

He turned back at Jard, whose body was tired and exhausted from all the jumping around and striking violently at his victims. A moment was all he needed, he patiently waited for Galf as he walked closer and closer to him.

"Hey, so how had you been?" Galf said, his tone was as soft as a feather, "that parasite got the best of you, hasn't it?"

Jard softened his eyes, slightly opened to listen to Galf. It was odd for him to suddenly turn passive towards his prey.

"Answer my question... Are you a monster? or are you Jard?" Galf asked, trying to stand a meter away from him.

The green-eyed student stood over silently, Galf couldn't tell whether if he was thinking about the question or daydreaming about slicing him up like the others. As Galf decided to take one more step forward, Jard retailed with a hiss before lifting his green sword at Galf as self-defense.

"Woah!" Galf yelped, backing away slightly, "don't need to be defensive... It seemed like you had a rough time back there when we are in this prison,"

Without thinking, Galf lunged forward at Jard and gave him a hug. Bobo looked away as Defect covered his eyes. Both of them wouldn't dare to watch what would happen next. At first, Jard growled and hissed at the sudden reaction, but eventually died down.

"Jard, if you are in there... We missed you," Galf mumbled, still hugging Jard.

Galf then felt stained green tears on his back. Jard whimpered, taking the words in. He opened his mouth, but only for another use instead.

"G-Galf?" he choked, but in a normal tone.

Bobo recognized that tone of voice. Defect and Rebel looked up with hope in their eyes. The three hopes that they were getting their friend back.

"I am always here for you," Galf replied, refusing to break the hug.

(A/N Remind me not write this kind of fucking cringe ever again :sob:)

A gagging sound broke the silence. Jard coughed and spluttered until a green creature emerged from his mouth. It was that huge glow worm; it must had survived from all that salt. Bobo blinked as he watched the parasite squirm into the Elysium vents.

"Hey! That thing looks like the glow worms at the Catacombs, but only much bigger," he exclaimed as Jard gasps for air.

Jard was back to normal. His eyes were now dull brown, and his teeth returned to its human structural shape. Defect felt a warmth in his heart, knowing he could finally relax.

"Welcome back, Jard," he said.

"You seem exhausted," Galf added, pulling away from Jard and pat him on the shoulders, "come on, let's take you home,"

Chapter Text

Epilogue

Words of a College Student

Galf's shop is busier than before, not because of the flood of customers banging at the glass door, but because his surrounding friends gathered together for a short celebration. Defect wiped his sweat off his face as he made his way down the ladder.

"Alright, I got the roof fixed! Took me about a week to get this shop repaired," he mumbled, landing on the ground with both feet.

"Thank you so much for all your work, Defect," Galf thanked, huffing out the smoke from his cigarette, "you want some refreshments?"

"Yes please,"

Defect politely took the drink from Galf's hand pulled the glass to his mouth and took a small sip. Rebel and his gang went out of the shop, he was surprisingly happy to see Defect finish the last of the construction.

"You never told us you were good at building and repairing," Rebel laughed, jokingly nudging Defect on the shoulder with his elbow, "next time you should repair the plane,"

Galf, Defect, Rebel and his comrades walked into the shop, greeted with music and bright vibes. In under ten seconds, everyone was busy.

Bobo and Galf sat on one of the tables, looking at the chess pieces before them. Although Bobo was only starting to learn chess, he was already in a better position than Galf. 

"I can already see a checkmate in 2," Galf said, sweating at Bobo's next moves, "you're such a fast learner, aren't you?"

"You can say that again," Bobo answered, smiling.

Jard emerged from the hallway with a basket of cupcakes that Galf baked hours ago. They were carefully iced with vanilla, strawberries and chocolate. 

"Everyone! The cupcakes are ready! Who wants some?" Jard yelled, walking towards the group of rebels and Trooper, who had happened to stop by.

The rebels didn't hear him, they were too drawn to Trooper's comedian show in their younger days. As recalled, it was his job to shoot down his students to keep them from tracking down Rose or stealing artifacts, but from his eyes, he had seen they had changed. Everything he had heard about them, taking down a hidden organization was a miracle to him. He opened his photo album.

"... And this photo was Defect Rebel wearing a maid dress after the work experience," he gladly said, showing the photo to the rebels.

Another burst of laughter filled the room. 

"Woah, Defect. I didn't know you work in a cafe," a rebel mocked jokingly, patting Defect on the back, "do they make you wear that, or did you think that dress suits you?"

"God... God fucking why..." Defect mumbled and cursed, putting his head down in embarrassment.

"Come to think of it, it does suit him very well," Rebel added, smiling with a joking expression, "maybe you should wear that during your next expedition,"

Defect clumped himself into a ball as the rebels howled with laughter. Jard only stood there with the plate of cupcakes next to the group before turning around to watch the chess game between Bobo and Galf. He watched Bobo move his rook on the back rank and...

"Checkmate!"

Despite his defeat, Galf smiled to himself.

"You're hard to beat, are you?"

Jard chuckled. He always knew Bobo would be a quick learner. After all, Bobo learnt chess only three hours ago. He was caught off guard by the red shiny object in the corner. A silver blade sliced through the juicy red fruit, with a foul smell on Jard's nose. He had completely forgotten that Galf was making a salad. One part of him wanted to throw up. He hated fruits and vegetables, especially tomatoes. The other part, he stood still as sweat rolled down his forehead. Why does it feel so familiar to him? Not that it was common for someone to be cutting up a tomato for a party.

He slowly lowers the plate of cupcakes onto the table.

"I'll just leave these here, I am going to the bathroom. I need a moment,"

The rebels continued laughing their heads off, not hearing a word from the college student. He sighed as he smiled. He had never seen the rebels so bright before. Maybe his workmates were wrong about them. 

"Alright! Have fun!"

Jard waved at the group before entering the hallway. Cobwebs were decorated in every dark corner and the lights flickered in fear. His footprints echoed in the tight room as he entered the bathroom. He twisted the knob, making a stream of water gush out from the tap. He dipped his hands into the vertical river. He stared into his reflection. He frowned while it smiled. It wasn't following orders. The ringing was prominent in his ears. It was lining up. That tomato. That knife. Elysium Moonbase. It hasn't been a coincidence.

"A safety breach has been detected in the South Cafeteria of the Elysium Moonbase. A teenager with a black hoodie and black backward cap was seen with a knife and an AK-47. There have been 8 severe injuries and 2 causalities due to this hazard.  All units are to assist in the area immediately. The rest of the employees are to evacuate out of the building. We all wish you the best and hope you get out safely,"

The hallways were filled with a crazed laugh. He was carrying a massive firearm in his right arm and a sharp, bloodied knife in his left. The red liquid was sprayed on his cheeks as it dripped down on his chin. Sure, he knew those employees were innocent despite having to work in an unforgiving company, but there was something dark that sprouted into life. Something that had snapped inside of him. Everywhere he could see was red. He opened fire, loud explosions filled the Elysium hallways. It wasn't long enough before the Elysium guards came onto the scene...

He clutched onto the sheet of paper in front of him. The picture of him tormented him. It was in a frame of a wanted poster. He wasn't a tired college student trying to pay his debt. He was painted as a murderer. A sociopath who cared about nothing but himself. A monster. 

Finally, he snapped out of his thoughts. If he was going to keep his sanity, then he has to forget about the past.

"Nobody wants to know..."

He shredded the wanted poster into small pieces as he piled it in his palm. He walked up to the toilet before dumping the scrap into the bowl. He laid his finger over the button.

"Nobody needs to know..."

With that, he pushes down the flush.

(Hi! The author here! Sorry for this random update on this dead finished fanfic. I wanted to make changes to the ending because I disliked the original. Hope it doesn't change much! Thanks!)