ritzrawt2

[ritzrawt2]

Chapter 4 of what is NOW being called “Bolt From the Blue” and “Mix Mediocre”. Zerkett just brought a statue to life and decides to make more and intensively studies them. None of them besides Brump knows about Zerkett, put it’s all fine, it’s for science!

“Wake up the Ampire, wake up the Ampire….” Brump mumbled to itself as it continued to lazily stomp around, as it did for the last few hours.

Its steps progressively sounded less like a Scups with cup fungus. The slime on its feet were near dried-out and started to feel numb from all the friction with the floor.

“Wake ‘em up, wake ‘em up, or they’ll die. Uhhhhh, and they’ll not wake up ever again ever…..” Brump’s mouth was beginning to feel tired of the near constant vocalizations.

Down in the labyrinth-like room, along with its voice, Brump could hear the ongoing cacophony from above echoing faintly through the room’s corridors. Power tools banging and creaking, various materials clanging together, and blow torches sizzling away. The smell of smoke was present everywhere.

“Finally!” Zerkett exclaimed. They leaped off from one of the island’s horns they were holding on to and landed on the elevated platform in front of it. Carrying multiple tools in their arms, they jogged a couple miles to the very edge of the island, steadily sizing themself up to their normal height as they went along. They had spent too long sized down at only 7 feet.

They leaped off the edge and floated just a few feet away from the edge. Zerkett tried to stay at a safe distance from the storm where they didn’t feel the tiny sparks of lightning zapping at their body.

They turned back to the island, and marveled at their work. What used to be only a circular platform at the bottom of the ocean, now had an intricate cylindrical structure on top, reaching multiple meters high. The structure was adorned with large horns protruding from the back, hair made from millions of individual wires, and two enormous eyes in perpetual slumber. Three raised platforms with white spiral patterns resided near the back, near some of the lurid lightbulbs and batteries scattered around the island.

The warm feeling in Zerkett’s orb swelled once more. It glowed brightly, along with the electricity in their limbs. They actually felt . . . accomplished, for the first time in a while. Zerkett wondered how. Constructing a ridiculously huge “island” at the bottom of the ocean shouldn’t have felt any more fulfilling than years and years of creating an innumerable amount of ridiculous inventions, so why did it?

That’s when Zerkett felt a sudden zap at their orb. It was the lightning sparks. They were being pulled closer to the storm. They frantically swam back to the island, and let go of the tools they were holding to be sucked into the storm.

Once they were back on the island, Zerkett went down the trapdoor leading to their lab. The creature’s stomping could still be heard. They really needed to install some lights down there.

“Hey, I’m booooooooorrrrrrrrreeeeeeed.” The creature—err, Brump, groaned impatiently. “What are you even doing all that time?”

Zerkett just grabbed Brump from the lower floor and brought it up to the surface of the island. “New monsters are going to be joining you here. Sounds cool, right?” They said to it.

“Uhh, okay?” It responded.

“Awesome!”

They grabbed Brump once more and dropped it into their lab. They then started up the teleporter.“I’ll only be gone for a short while. Just stay here. I will be back before you can say ‘Pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism’!”

“Pseudopseudohyso, what?”

“Bye!”

And with that, they disappeared into the portal, which shut off right after.

…….

Zerkett emerged from a teleporter somewhere in Saxodon. They were greeted with a gust of wind to their face. They were dripping with cold, salty water. The air felt significantly warm on their skin, which wasn’t surprising when compared to the temperatures of the Monstriana Trench. Zerkett took a moment to get a good look at their surroundings. It was the largest city in all of Air Island at the time. Large buildings with piano, drum, and flute roofs could be seen wherever one looked. Trumplites and other decorative obstacles were present at every corner. The bellowing and conversations of monsters roared through the air as Zerkett tried to get through the crowds without stepping on anybody. They could feel multiple monsters staring at them, but most of them were too preoccupied with other events to notice.

Various booths were stationed along the sides of the buildings, selling goods such as food, clothing, jewelry, rugs, toys, jars of old celebrity breath, candles, copies of the Celestial Scriptures, and much more. Zerkett was thrilled by the sensory buffet this market had to offer. All of the sounds, the sights, it excited them.

“AAAAAH HI ZERKETT I’M YOUR BIGGEST FAN!” A Cybop in a lab coat screeched from a booth selling old scrap metal.

Zerkett tried to quickly get away from them, then slipped and knocked into a particularly sassy Beeyoot Tree.

“Watch your step, you soggy moron!” It exclaimed with a shrill voice. “They should put guardrails around me or something.” It muttered to itself.

“Sincerest apologies.” Zerkett half-heartedly sputtered as they made haste through the crowd. Despite how amazing the scene was, they were here for one reason. It was just gonna be a quick trip to and from the islands—

“Oh! What’s up, Zerk?” A familiar voice called out from one of the booths.

Towering over most of the monsters there, Zerkett could spot Pinkledinkle buying purple yams from an Arackulele with a weird-looking hat.

Pinkledinkle was holding Proto— Parry in their plumes, and had a bag full of purple food hanging from their right arm. They were wearing their navy blue lab coat with the sleeves rolled up to their elbows. PD waved to Zerkett with their left hand while holding Parry and their other pompom in the right.

“You like my hat, ‘lil bud?” The Arackulele spoke in an Ethereal accent.

“Yeah!” Parry squealed in response. It clapped its wire hands above its head.

“Real peng, ain’t it?” They tipped their weird hat and adjusted it back on. “Got this from the new island. It’s called a ‘phay—door—uh’.”

Zerkett extended their leg to carefully step over the crowds to the booth where they were at. Pinkledinkle looked them up and down.

“Hi! Uh, you’re dripping wet.” They said.

“I’ve noticed.” Zerkett responded.

Zerkett tried to wipe off the water that was dripping from behind their eyes and on their arms. Their legs were almost completely dry by now, and their arms with also dry to a lesser extent. The wind today wasn’t blowing as hard as the preceding days.

“My word, who’s this fellow? Got a reason why they’re all covered in water?” The Arackulele asked PD. They then turned to face Zerkett and extended their arm. “The name’s Cricket by the way.”

Zerkett contemplated whether or not they should shake their hand, but then decided to do it. It’s the polite thing to do, right?

“Um, I’m Zerkett. As to why I’m wet, well…” they glanced at Pinkledinkle then back to Cricket, who had a faint look of cringe on their face. “I, I was in the ocean.”

“Ah, I see,” Cricket had their fingers curled slightly in like claws as they let go of the handshake, and rubbed it on their leg. “You’re some sort of sports swimmer, aren’t you?”

“No, I just…like being in the ocean, sometimes.” Zerkett’s eyes kept darting back and forth, like they needed to do something really badly, PD noticed.

They placed Parry on the table and pushed the remainder of the purple yams into their bag while dropping some coins onto the counter. “I think it’s time we like, go now. Thank you lots!” They said quickly.

“Bye, you guys!” Cricket exclaimed, waving back at the group as they walked away into the crowd. “Oh, and you, the purple lad?”

PD turned back, and so did Parry.

“Sweet kid you got, there. I haven’t a single clue what it is, but they’re real nice!”

“Thanks!” PD responded. Parry cooed with delight.

Zerkett proceeded towards their destination before feeling something grabbing on to their arm. Pinkledinkle tugged at it and signaled at them to follow them.

“Quickly,” Zerkett sighed.

They tried to find a quiet area where there weren’t lots of monsters around. They knew that Zerkett would definitely get overwhelmed in a setting like this. Not that they had actually seen them during such a busy day in the city before, but they knew it would happen. They knew them best.

They brought them behind a library which resembled a huge red drum, with two giant drumstick pillars standing at the sides. They shoved both of their pompoms into the large brown bag and placed Parry on top of them, then slung it onto their shoulder.

“So, Zerkett, are you, like, feeling alright?” They asked. “I worry that that the… current sensory situation here would be unsatisfactory.”

“What do you mean? I’m doing absolutely fine! In fact, this market’s a quintessential sensory buffet!” Zerkett exclaimed, stretching their now almost-dry arms to gesture at the event. However, their eyes still darted back and forth, and they looked a bit restless. “Now, it was nice talking to you again after, what, a few days? But could we maybe meet up sometime later?”

Parry stretched out its stubby wire arms at Zerkett. It blabbed in curiosity. It recognized their face. Somewhat. Most of the memories it had of them so far were blurry. It never really got a good chance to have a full look at their face clearly and in good condition until now. Zerkett just looked at it blankly.

“Oh, well, could I at least ask you some things? Y’know, to like, catch up on what you’re doing.” PD said.

Zerkett sighed impatiently. “Go ahead. But quickly, please.”

Zerkett was probably tired from being near all those monsters, which is why they were acting like this, PD told themself. They’ve seen this lots of times before, and it was always temporary, they reminded themself. Zerkett was fine.

“So, have you made yourself at home at the bottom of the ocean on that pre-established platform?” They asked.

“Um,” Zerkett stammered. “No. Actually, well, I would prefer not to say.”

“Oh. Alright.” Pinkledinkle responded. “How about those creatures you made? You planning to create more of them?”

Now Zerkett looked slightly uncomfortable. They really wished they hadn’t told PD about it. “I’m not constructing any at the moment.” They lied. “I—, I’m working on something else.”

“What is it?”

“I would prefer not to say.” They repeated. “Could you please not tell anyone about what I did? Like with Parry?”

They gestured to Parry, who was still in the bag, examining a bottle of coconut milk.

“Sure.” PD responded. “It’ll be a bit hard when a ton of monsters ask about its species and about the breeding partner or something, but my lips are sealed.”

“Awesome, thank you!” Zerkett jogged away, which let them go quite far considering their rescaled original height at 13.6 ft, when Pinkledinkle suddenly remembered something.

“Wait!” They called out.

Zerkett stopped in their tracks. “What is it NOW.” They groaned, pinching the middle of their eyes while lightly stomping one foot repeatedly.

PD ran to where Zerkett was with something in their hand. “Here.” They said, breathing somewhat heavily. In their hands was a thick, faux-leather bound notebook. Or rather, a material that resembled faux-leather. Its many pages looked old and yellow, but showed no signs of any damage or deterioration. On the cover was a square-like spiral engraved into it. It was reminiscent of the symbol on the Book of the Celestial Scriptures.

“I bought it for you at one of the market stands,” They told them. “You could, like, maybe write down and process life experiences and emotions, or some inventions or ideas, perhaps…”

Zerkett gingerly took the big notebook from their hands. They ran their hand over the spiral engraving on the cover, taking in every detail. They flipped through the dozens of blank, waxy pages. Not a single imperfection.

“Thank you. This, this notebook is so cool. It means a lot to me!” Zerkett exclaimed, “I’m sorry for getting really impatient with you. I just needed to do something quickly.”

“Nah, it’s totally fine.” PD responded. “I get it. Were you really in a rush to do something?”

“Of course! Wasn’t it obvious?”

“I, uh, I just assumed that you—“ Darn it. PD was supposed to know Zerkett best, they thought. How could they guess wrong? They should’ve known better. “Never mind. Sorry.”

Zerkett gripped the notebook tight in their hand, and took one last glance at it. “Well, it was nice meeting up with you. See you later, sometime.” They sized themself down back to 7 feet tall, and then rushed off into the crowd.

…..

Zerkett came back to the electric blue island through the teleporter with a humongous sack over their shoulder.

“Uuuuuuugggggghhhh.” Brump groaned from the room. At this point, it was lying on the floor on its side. Using its webbed feet, it pushed itself around the corridors, bumping and sliding against walls like a slimy hockey puck. “Took YOU long enough.”

“Hmm,” Zerkett heaved the gargantuan sack next to their desk. “Could YOU say ‘Pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism’?”

“Huh? Oh, oh! Oh, yeah, right, that was the word!” Brump exclaimed.

“As I thought.”

Zerkett opened the trapdoor leading to the top of the island so there could be some sort of light source. Mon, they needed a lamp down here, they thought. Whatever, they could just get a new one, later. They picked up Brump once more and placed them onto the surface of the island. Then, opening their suitcase, they pulled out four more bubblerite statues. ‘Ampire statues’, they now called them.

One of them looked like a giant bug with four eyes and a huge bulb taking up most of its body. Its knees were bent backward like Brump’s. Another one of the statues had a pointy burd mask and a whole bunch of feathers on top of its head. Its body was skinny and boney, was quadrupedal and also had backwards knees. They decided that it would be cool if the thing made music by dancing on one of those dance machine things, so they carved out a complicated honey comb-like dance pad for it

There also was a statue that looked like it could be a Pomily member. Yeah, they didn’t use much of their creativity on that one. It had an overgrowth of fur on its body, even covering its eyes. Tuning pegs rested at the sides of its head, and, most notably, it had a long tongue. It also had a special kind of pelt style, a ‘Wok-da-Tok’ as they called it. It meant that its pelt resembled a pair of shorts that wrapped around each leg, as opposed to the normal kind of Pomily pelt style that just hung down at the waist. It was supposedly a very high-maintenance style. Zerkett didn’t know why they did it.

Lastly, there was a statue with a thick, stocky body. Feathers covered the body and adorned its head, and little leg stubs protruded from the bottom. It had no visible arms, but at the time of making it, Zerkett though it would be funny to carve out a bunch of disembodied arms, carve the statues to be somewhat hollow, shoving all those arms into it, and sealing them away forever. Zerkett also didn’t exactly know why they did this, only that it was funny. They thought that because the creature would have so many arms, it would be better suited to drumming, so they gave it a somewhat wonky drum set.

They placed all of the statues in a close proximity to each other, around a confused Brump. Afterward, opening the enormous sack, it revealed an uncountable pile of monster spore eggs. Zerkett summoned four clouds over each statue and put a random amount of eggs in each cloud. Then, notebook in hand, they leaped off the island and swam until they found a dark area leading to a vent, which gave a view of al of the creatures. And, with a huge surge of electricity sourcing through their entire body to their hand, they zapped them all.

[ritzrawt2]

Chapter 3 of Bolt from the Blue. To catch you up, what basically happened is Zerkett decided to play Colossal and ended up bringing something…. supernatural, to life.

We even have a Wubbox drawing that’s just radiating with the author’s self-indulgence! Ain’t it beautiful?

….

As Zerkett’s vision started to clear, they could see where the raspy chanting was coming from. In front of them stood the now-animated bubblerite statue. It bobbed up and down as if it were dancing, its slimy, green skin illuminated by sparks of blue lightning from the storm. The most notable physical alteration was the Furcorn heads sticking out of the holes on its body. It reminded Zerkett of Holeo.

The creature continued its little jig as it appeared to look around at its surroundings, repeatedly saying the same phrase: “Wake up the Ampire, wake up the Ampire.”

Zerkett stood frozen still, both from shock and amazement. It spoke actual words, they realized in astonishment. Gaining the courage to get a close-up of this creature, they carefully shuffled towards it. It was painstakingly slow. It hurt their soul to move this way, but they didn’t want to risk scaring the thing and messing up their research. They thought that it shouldn’t be too hard to get close to it. After all, it didn’t appear to have eyes, so it probably couldn’t see them. This assumption proved to be false, however, as the creature quickly turned to face Zerkett.

“Hey, what are you?” It questioned in a raspy, croaky voice.

Zerkett’s orb jumped and they froze. The creature sniffed the air around it and shuffled its feet on the floor covered with building supplies. Careful not to injure itself on any sharp objects in its way, its webbed feet felt around some more before eventually reaching the stunned Wubbox. It put one foot on Zerkett’s left foot and examined its details.

“Can you talk?” It asked them. “Or you can’t?”

Zerkett couldn’t believe it. They thought they shouldn’t be surprised. They did just bring something else to life before this, after all. However, this creature could speak understandable language. It could walk, and it seemed to be of reasonable intelligence. The Prototype couldn’t do that, they thought, and with the difference of a few eggs!

Their orb swelled up the joy and energy like on Air Island, before. The influx of electricity in their core spread to their limbs and they felt a wave of excitement and motivation crash upon them. There was the overwhelming urge to release all of that energy.

“Hold on, uh, ju-just wait right here.” They sputtered quickly.

Before it could even register what they had said, Zerkett dashed past the confused creature. They clamped their arms stiffly together at the side of their face, grinning widely as they sprinted around the perimeter of their lab.

“This is so revolutionary!” They exclaimed while hopping over broken glass bulbs. “I brought something to life! Intelligence without prior life experience! How does that even work!?”

Zerkett then proceeded to do a backflip, almost lose their balance, and keep on running. “I shoulda’ kept Prototype here with me on the island. I could’ve compared the differences between the two! Should this island have its own so—“

Their sprinting and hopping continued before tripping on a pile of scrap metal, to which they landed face-first onto the solid black floor.

Right, you need to study this creature, they reminded themself. Picking themself up, they walked over to the now concerned-looking creature.

It asked Zerkett, “Are you in pain? Why were you running around me? You were yelling some weird stuff.”

“Ah, well,” They told it, more calmly now. “That was nothing. I was just really excited.”

“Okay, ‘bout what?” It responded.

“About you! Your creation! You were created in a unique way!” They gestured excitedly at it. Zerkett really wanted to test how its body worked right then and there, but decided against it as they wanted to form a decent connection with it, first. It may make the physical experimentation process happen more efficiently, with the creature at ease.

“Now, because you’re so unique, I’m just gonna ask you a few questions for my research. Like an interview. That okay?”

“Sure. What’s an interview?”

“It means I ask you questions and you answer them. Now, first question: where did you learn to verbally communicate? It seems unusually advanced for someone who was just made a few minutes ago.”

“Uh, what was that word again? The one before, starting with ‘verb’?”

“It means to talk.” Zerkett said.

“Oh. I dunno. I just woke up knowing this stuff.”

“Okayyyy,” they made mental notes of its responses and stored them somewhere in their memory. “Next one: what is your earliest memory? Like, the very very last thing you can recall?”

“Recall is like remember, right?”

“Uh huh.” Their eye twitched and they pinched the space between their eyes. “Now could you actually answer the question.”

The creature could notice the shift in tone. “Oh yeah, uhhhh, the last thing I recall isssssss…actually I don’t know, again. All I remember is the feeling of energy inside my body, and then I sparked awake.”

“Can you tell me how that energy felt?”

“It, it felt really hot and sharp, and then refreshing, if that makes sense.”

Zerkett got down on one knee and got to face level with the creature. “Alright, then. Question three: what was that phrase you kept repeating when you woke up? Something about an empire..”

“Wake up the Ampire.” It reminded them.

“Yeah, that. Do you know what that means? Why were you repeating it?”

“Well, when I woke up I just felt the urge to say that. I dunno what it means. The word “Ampire” just sounds weird, though. I think I imagine saying it to a song, like this.”

The creature then proceeded to hum the mysterious melody. It was upbeat and energetic, with a touch of swing jazz.

“Fascinating…” Zerkett muttered to themself as they picked up their toolbox. They opened a trapdoor that led to a spacious floor below their lab. An array of empty rooms lined the labyrinth-esque walls. They placed the green creature down there, hopped onto the unsturdy, unfinished metal walls, and continued construction.

“Sooo,” the creature tried to feel around for something on the foreign surface, only to find it completely smooth and bare. “What’cha want me to do, now?”

Zerkett shouted back, “Just stay down there, I’m working at the moment.”

…….

Power tools and construction material seemed to almost drown out the perpetual whispers of the storm. The creatures chanting could be heard softly echoing throughout the room below. The materials scattered around the lab slowly disappeared as the island was brought closer to completion. Metal, batteries, platforms, blue-patterned rugs, were all set into place according to a blueprint on a crumpled sheet of parchment.

Zerkett quietly hummed the Air Island song. They had been in such a haste to get out of there that they forgot to participate in the weekly chorus. Perhaps monsters were starting to wonder what was happening to them. Then they remembered their house back in Saxodon. They had actually left two items behind: their flickery lamp and the new invention they were working on. Making that thing was so boring. They didn’t even remember what it was supposed to be. The only memory they could associate it with was the gross Reebro. But wait, if they really did dislike building things that much at the moment, they why did they feel so good doing the exact same thing right now? Why did they feel the same way they did before, when they first started? It was all too contradictory, they thought.

Still, Zerkett continued with the construction. Many hours passed, and the creature started stomping across the floor, its slimy suction noises echoing like a Scups with cup fungus and petroleum jelly on them.

“Hey I’m boooorrrred.” The slimy wet suction noises persisted. “What’s your name, again?”

Zerkett snapped out of their train of thought. “Oh, it’s Zerkett!” They shouted from the nearly-finished ceiling of the lab. The rooms below it became darker. Not that it bothered the creature.

“Can I have a name, too?” It asked.

Right. Zerkett didn’t actually think about what names their creations would have. They didn’t think they would be like regular monsters.

“Brump!” They blurted the first word that came to mind. Why they thought specifically that word, they weren’t sure. “What do you think about Brump?”

“Whatever works.” Brump replied.

[ritzrawt2]

[6/3/2025, edited for accuracy]

Chapter 2 of what I’m now calling Bolt from the Blue as I’m writing this. This is the chapter that’ll ACTUALLY introduce the other main focus of this story. Behold, the driving force behind all decisions from now on, the significant, life-altering monsters of Zerkett’s life: the Ampire.

Also, this happens:

….

Zerkett adjusted their body vertically before landing in the water, to which they splashed head—no, EYES first into the water. It hurt more than they expected, but they were too excited to notice.

Using their species’ powers of exceptional physical capability, they were quickly able to propel themself to the bottom of the ocean and down the giant crack on the ocean floor. Since it was so close to the Living Core, the water began to get uncomfortably hot. Zerkett already could feel their Steptanium burning up.

They continued to swim further and further down. It was dark, desolate, and suddenly became cold down there, just like their bedroom back on Air Island. It was perfect. This reminded them of their house in general, and they wondered if they packed everything. Yeah, they were sure they got everything, they were usually very detail oriented. Wait, no, they forgot their desk lamp in their room. It wasn’t that spectacular of a lamp, but it worked fairly fine. Maybe they could get it back some time this week…

Zerkett’s thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a powerful gust of wind. It pulled them back and forth—no, side to side? They couldn’t even tell. Their otherwise heavy body felt like a feather in the storm, being repeatedly jerked in multiple directions. They struggled helplessly against the intense current, not even noticing how their suitcase was no longer in their grasp.

After what seemed like an eternity, the Wubbox was swept into the center of the storm.

“ÁÁÁÁ ÁÁÁÁ ÁÁÁÁ ÁÁÁÁ ÁÁÁÁ!” They screeched as they fell another 300+ feet. They finally crashed onto a large, flat, circular stone platform, with their large suitcase landing a few feet away from their scratched-up body.

They were in immense pain.

“Huh, there really is a flat surface here. Yay…” they muttered before blacking out.

….

“Nnngh.”

Zerkett woke up groggily. Everything hurt. Their vision struggled to adjust to their dark surroundings, and there seemed to be little blue flashes of light in their sight wherever they looked. They felt like vomiting. They shivered in response to the bitter chill of the Monstriana Trench.

“Wait a darn minute,” they exclaimed as they sat up. “The Monstriana Trench isn’t supposed to be cold?”

Zerkett wobbled up to their feet, staggering as they did so, and finally took notice of their surroundings. Their vision started to adjust as they noticed a massive storm whirling violently around the large flat platform they were on. Little bolts of blue lightning sparked from within the dark, swirling clouds.

They were relieved to find out that they weren’t experiencing a migraine at all. Still felt like vomiting, though. Whether it was a psychosomatic response or their dizziness from getting stuck in the storm, they couldn’t say. Maybe both.

If there’s a perfectly flat, circular piece of land down at the bottom of the ocean, surely, it must have been mon-made. So who built it? Zerkett wondered to themself as they limped towards their suitcase. They used it as body support for their weak state, which would have been perfectly fine if it didn’t have wheels.

“Now, what was I gonna do when I got down here? Oh yeah, I was gonna build an entire island. That shouldn’t be too hard. Maybe. Possibly.”

They opened up their suitcase to reveal an assortment of objects and items that would otherwise be impossible to stuff into there all at once, such as a bed, a desk, a 5 ft tall chunk of bubblerite, a furnace, 1,376 books, a couch, and a stool. They had invented it long ago to smuggle their scream-powered cookie generator into a lecture. Out of one of the inside pockets they pulled out various metals and building material and a box of power drills. Zerkett was so excited that they almost completely forgot about their current poor condition.

“Alrighty,” they announced to themself as they pulled on thick working gloves. “Let’s get right to building!”

….

The area was an entire mess.

Metal, wood, nails, and various other materials were strewn all over the place. Power tools and building supplies lay dangerously around Zerkett, who was in the fetal position on the floor with extreme bodily aches. Shocker.

“I, I think that was enough building for today,” they murmured weakly to themself. “At least I got the layer with my lab done. I think I deserve some time to do what I want.”

They stumbled to their desk and chair, which, along with a chunk of bubblerite and their suitcase, were the only things in Zerkett’s lab at the moment. They had planned to make the island look like a Colossal or Titan of some sort, but they hadn’t finished building, and their lab didn’t even have a roof yet.

Holding up a hammer, the top chunk of bubblerite was smashed off, ready for use. Zerkett stared at it. They didn’t really know what to make with it. Usually, their imagination sparked an abundance of ideas for creature designs thanks to their regular consumption of horror media, but they just weren’t feeling it, then.

They tried looking at it from different angles, perhaps a particular shape would stand out to them. Eventually they just decided that this thing was going to be a head of something. They picked up some giant googly eyes and stuck them onto the chunk. They chiseled out a giant, stupid looking smile. Using some metal wire they found on the ground, they carefully shoved them into the sides and bottom to resemble limbs. Then they remembered that it was supposed to be a head. Zerkett attempted to delicately pluck the thin wires out, which proved to be a challenge as they were constantly nodding off. They were so tired. They still kept pushing on, for some reason. They couldn’t even get a grip on the little wire. They could barely keep their heavy eyelids up. They started to nod off when a loud, sharp noise pierced their ears.

Zerkett jolted awake, their eyes wide in shock. They could see the after-image of neon-blue light.

“Wha-what happened…?” They looked down at their chunk of bubblerite, which was now standing and glaring at them with their huge googly eyes.

Zerkett stared back at it in stunned silence before actually comprehending that their chunk of bubblerite was alive now, and screamed.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” They jumped to their feet and shouted at the thing while pointing. It just continued to goofily maintain direct eye contact with them.

Zerkett grabbed it by the head and started aggressively swimming upward and getting caught in the storm for a bit before swimming out unphased, and continuing to aggressively push through the dark, hot depths of the Monstriana Trench and the freezing temperatures of the water that came after and climbing onto the nearest boat they could find, all while screaming, somehow.

After that rigorous exercise, Zerkett flopped limply onto the deck of the boat, inhaling and exhaling heavily. Only then did they realize just how much everything hurt. Their body was in agony.

“Oh! Uh, what’s up, Zerkett?”

Zerkett heard a voice from above their head, which was on the deck, face-first. They didn’t even have the energy to look up, but could tell who it was.

“Hi.” They murmured.

Pinkledinkle scanned Zerkett’s body. Their Steptanium was covered in dents and scrapes, and their orb was really dim, which affected the brightness of their limbs too.

“My word, you are in horrible condition. Like, what even happened to you down there?”

“Dunno. Why are you here?”

“I went back to Air Island the night you left to get more stuff, and just thought I’d come back a few days later to see if you were doing alright.” They stopped to glance at their body again. “And by the looks of it, you were anything but.”

The sentient chunk of bubblerite then crawled out from under Zerkett’s giant hand to greet Pinkledinkle.

“Yaaa!” It exclaimed, waving its tiny arms.

PD stared at it, their cheeks turning pink. “We’re…going back to Air Island.”

They turned on the rocket blaster and the skyship sped away.

…..

“Oh. My. Gosh! This thing is so ADORABLE!”

PD hugged the thing against their chest despite its hard, jagged edges. It directed its googly eyes towards Zerkett, who was being fixed.

The moment Pinkledinkle landed the skyship at the state of Saxodon, which was near the edge of Air Island, they had dragged Zerkett down to a mechnical repair shop that also specialized in Wubboxes.

The epic Congle sitting on its drum in the repair shop worked with unwavering focus, its eight extremities maneuvering simultaneously in an efficient and coordinated fashion on the giant cyborg, who was currently sat up and strapped to a metal bar protruding from the epoxy flooring. PD continued to play with the bubblerite chunk as it rested in their pom-poms.

“So,” they turned to looked at Zerkett, who looked a lot less dead than they did before. “Where did you get this lil’ guy? How does it sing?”

“Well, I—“ Zerkett then realized that the mechanic could overhear what they said, so they replied, “I will tell you after this is over.”

“Alright, then.”

Just then, a Potbelly walked into the shop. Its pot was painted gold with blue spirals. It had only its main head, and in its leaf carried a piece of blue paper.

It hopped over to Zerkett. “Well hello, Dr. Zerkett!” It greeted in a nasally voice.

Oh no, not this again, they thought. “Uh, I’m kinda in the middle of something at the moment.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t take too much of your time.” It shoved the paper in Zerkett’s face. “The path to enlightenment and love is narrow, but it’s never too late! Join Galvana’s Reprise if you seek celestic truth!”

“You’re done.” The epic Congle told Zerkett softly as they were released from the metal straps. They stood up, staring at the Potbelly with a weird expression. It seemed somber.

PD eyed the flyer disapprovingly. “Are you literally using Galvana’s name and image to promote falsehood and fabrication? That is so shameful. C’mon, Zerk, let’s go.” They took their finger and walked out of the repair shop, with the creature under their arm. The Potbelly looked at Zerkett, frowning.

Zerkett had forgotten how PD could be like when it came to religion. They always tried to be careful when “using Celestial name in vain” around them, with phrases like “oh my Gal” and the like. PD never corrected them when it slipped out, but they always made a face.

PD took them behind a big building and placed the thing on their lap. They looked at Zerkett worryingly. “You good, Zerk? You looked kinda sad when that monster presented you with their blasphem—, with their group.”

Zerkett turned to face PD. It’s all in the past, they tried to tell themself, it doesn’t matter anymore. “Yeah, everything’s fine. Now, about that little creature,” trying to change the subject, they gestured to the thing, who was cooing and kicking its wire legs. “I was at the bottom of the ocean. There was a big, flat platform there that was surrounded by a giant storm,”

“No way, really?”

“Yes way! And so I was going to sculpt something out of the bubblerite I brought, but then something zapped it, and it came to life. It was bright blue, and,” their eyes lit up. “Oh my Gal—gosh, electricity brought it to life!”

Pinkledinkle gasped. “Oh! I think I’ve read about this before during my religious studies! Long ago, the Colossals carved monsters like the Ethereals out of bubblerite, and brought them to life using the Life Formula, which is like, electricity! Zerkett, you just created a being of celestic essence!”

Zerkett couldn’t believe it. Their face beamed. Their orb started to glow brighter and it felt like it was going to explode, in a good way.

“Pinkledinkle, wait here.” Zerkett scurried off into town, leaving PD and the bubblerite thing behind. They wondered if Zerkett would make more of their bubblerite statues and bring them to life. It seems difficult, though. Taking care of sentient beings is supposed to be difficult, they thought, and they didn’t exactly seem like the type who would be good with kids. Then again, they might be able to do it. They do like challenges, right?

Zerkett came back with a basket of eight green monster eggs, a teleporter, and a smile on their face.

“Oh, you’re back,” PD decided it would be better not to question where they got everything. “I think I’m gonna adopt them. Is that okay with you?”

“Sure!”

“What do you think I should name this cutie?” They held it up from under its arms.

“I don’t know, Prototype?”

So they WERE planning to make more. “That’s a terrible name. How ‘bout we go wiiiiiittthh… Parry? Also, are you gonna make more of these creations!”

“Uhhh,” they tried to find a way to change the subject. “I don’t know. Now, let’s get back to that skyship.”

…..

After getting violently thrust around by the storm around the island, Zerkett was thrown into their roofless lab, which hurt significantly less than when there wasn’t anything on the island. They put the teleporter near their work desk to make traveling between islands easier.

From their suitcase they pulled out one of their bubblerite statues. It had amphibious features, including a tail and webbed toes. Its knees bent backwards, and its head was covered with holes. They had created it after reading a Jellji Jito story about a Fwog named Holeo who gets treated by a mysterious doctor that caused them to be able to breathe from holes all over their body. Also, tiny Furcorns occasionally crawled out of them, they recalled.

Placing the statue far from their desk, Zerkett formed a small cloud over it. They put the eggs into the cloud, and with a surge of electricity coursing throughout their entire body into their fingertips, blue lightning emerged from the cloud.

The statue was zapped.

The loud crack of thunder struck across the entire room. Zerkett stepped back from the sudden shock. Their vision was blurry from the intense flash of neon blue light. Amidst their disorientation, they could hear the sound of a raspy voice chanting the same phrase:

“Wake up the Ampire, Wake up the Ampire.”

[ritzrawt2]

Chapter 1 of this fic I’m now calling “Mix Mediocre” at the time of writing this. Unfortunately, we still won’t be able to see the Wublins in action until later chapters, so I appreciate your patience!

Zerkett sat at their desk, hunched over a piece of parchment. Their flickering desk lamp was the one source of light illuminating their dark, desolate room. In their right hand gripped a worn-out and chewed pencil, and the parchment covered with messy sketches of their possible next invention. It’s not like they really wanted to do it anymore, but everyone was expecting one sometime soon. They were bored out of their mind.

Meanwhile, under cover of night, a Reebro in a lab coat hid amongst the bushes of Zerkett’s house. It was easily recognizable, a tall, metal structure big enough for a Wubbox with neon blue accents. Zerkett wasn’t really one to want to stand out too much these days, but their eccentricity was noticeable in their architecture. The Reebro tried to stay low, careful not to set off any alarms or motion sensors that they knew were in certain areas while they sneaked to Zerkett’s bedroom window, which was unfortunately on the first floor.

“Ohohohoh, yes….” the Reebro whispered giddily to themself as they slowly held up a camera to the window. They’ve done this multiple times before. Sure, Zerkett caught them a few times, but they couldn’t actually tell who it was because it was so dark outside. They eagerly pressed it against the glass and snapped a picture. However, to their horror, they forgot to turn the camera flash off. Zerkett’s eyes darted to their window, where they saw the illuminated face of a wide-eyed Reebro caught in the act for a split second.

“Shoot!” The creepy stalker muttered as they sprinted as far away as they could from the house.

Zerkett’s shock quickly tuned to fury. They were absolutely sick of this.

“YOU LITTLE PIECE OF—“ Zerkett stomped out the door, shouting at the Reebro. “GET YOUR BURCING UGLY MOTOR BACK HERE OR I SWEAR—“

Zerkett caught their volume and stopped shouting. They really hoped no one was woken up by them.

“Hey Zerk, you good?” Pinkledinkle poked their head from the front door of their house, which was next to Zerkett’s.

“Oh my Gal, I am SO sorry for waking you up at this hour.”

“No worries, I’m usually up past midnight,” Pinkledinkle replied. “The monsters in this neighborhood sure are heavy sleepers. They slept through an entire accidentally summoned ghost party, so I think you’re fine.” They walked over to Zerkett with a concerned look. “Like, what even happened out here?”

“Ugh,” Zerkett leaned their back against the dark, metal wall of their house. “It’s that weird stalker, again. They keep taking pictures of me from my house!”

“Ew, that’s so disgusting.”

“I have told you before that I never knew who the monster was,”

“Yuh-huh.”

“But today I caught a glimpse of their face, and it was that Reebro who keeps pestering me for pictures of my orb for some reason!”

Pinkledinkle shook their head. “That is literally so low, mon.”

“I know,” Zerkett heaved a sigh. “I just too fed up with this kind of Toob-goo. Monsters don’t even act all that normal around me, anymore.” Zerkett stood up. “That’s it. I’m leaving Air Island.”

Pinkledinkle’s eyes widened. “Lea-leaving, yeah?”

“I just, I just need a place to be alone for a while. You know, take a break from monsters, from inventing, and relax and do my own thing.” Zerkett said.

PD thought about how life would be like without Zerkett living next to them. It’ll be lonely, for sure, but they reassured themself with the thought that they would make frequent phone calls, or simply move on. No big deal, right?

“I understand,” PD told them. “That might be difficult, however. Ever since that human-monster world internet project thing like around a month ago, the entire Monster World knows about you. It’ll be hard to find a place where no one really knows you yet, perhaps some parts of Bone Island, or maybe the Sea of G’reen…”

A blue Glowbe suddenly appeared over Zerkett’s head, then floated away. “I know! I’ll move to the bottom of the ocean!”

“Oh, Zerk,” PD placed a hand on their torso, which was about as high as their hand could go. Even when shrunken down, Zerkett still scaled at about seven feet. “Hate to break it to you, but that’s literally impossible.”

“No it isn’t,” Zerkett retorted. “All those G’joobs are able to hibernate at the Sea of G’reen, and that’s around essentially the bottom of the Living Ocean.”

“Yeah, ‘cause they have some sort of platform to rest on. I don’t think there’s any kind of pre-established land down there that’s in any way flat or comfortable, especially for someone your size.”

“Then I’ll just make my own island!” Zerkett rushed into their house to pack everything that belonged to them, in preparation for their move.

Pinkledinkle thought it was the sleep deprivation getting to them. They recognized their eccentricity from the day they met them at college. They did some strange stuff, like building a scream-powered machine that generates cookies, giving their house legs on multiple occasions, setting up a Home Alone-esque defense system in their dorm, and summoning the spirit of a dead millionaire to help pay off their student loans, but they would never think about moving to a different island.

Still, they thought, this may be the best course of action for Zerkett’s situation. They could really use a break, and maybe their passion for inventing will spark once more.

Zerkett then ran out of the house, with a giant suitcase trailing behind them.

“C’mon, I’m gonna rent a skyship.”

…..

Pinkledinkle stood at the steering wheel of the rickety skyship, listening to Zerkett’s directions.

“Just take a left and if you see Psychic island we’re close.” Zerkett instructed.

“Psychic island? That literally on the other side of the monster world. This is gonna take a couple days at least, and I didn’t bring much food.” They looked down at their single can of beans.

“That’s because this skyship isn’t going fast enough,” Zerkett said as they pulled out a rocket blaster from their suitcase. “This’ll shorten the trip by at least five days.” They attached the rocket blaster the back of the ship.

PD looked behind them. “What’s that—AAAHDHDHEJDGSJHWHUEUIWGSHSJWISAAQGHGQH—“

Both travelers held on for dear life as the skyship accelerated at speeds beyond monster comprehension. In just the span of two minutes, they were already at their destination.

The monsters were violently thrown to the back of the skyship like rag dolls in GMOD.

After about 20 minutes of stunned silence, Zerkett finally said, “That was even more faster than I expected. How are you not dead?” They turned to PD.

They shrugged weakly. “I ‘unno,” they whispered, quivering. “Plot armor, I guess.”

Zerkett saw that their ship was right in the middle of nowhere, just how they liked it.

“Well, I’m gonna jump into the ocean now.” They told PD. “Goodbye. I’m gonna miss you.”

“You’ll, you’ll still call me, ok?” PD asked them.

“Of course.”

“Right. I’ll just land the skyship onto the water so you can—“

“BYE MISS YAAAAAAAAAAAAA…” Zerkett had already jumped from the skyship, suitcase in hand, while it was 2,500 feet in the air.

“Oh! Uh, bye!” They rushed toward the side of the skyship to wave back to them. They would survive, they’re a Wubbox, they’re made of Steptanium, it’s totally fine, they thought.

[ritzrawt2]

6/6/2025: edited for more accurate characterizations

PROLOGUE of a new fic I’m starting about the Wublins that I’m still thinking of a name for. These won’t be oneshots, I’m thinking of making an actually story here, or rather, “episodic” or “arc” stories. Idk. I hope you find at least an ounce of entertainment in this!

(Edit: the fic is now called Mix Mediocre. Name is still subject to alterations.)

…

“Hi, Zerkett!”

“You don’t come out too often!

“May I get your autograph?”

“Can you send orb pics?”

Zerkett was swarmed with monsters in lab coats the moment they took a few steps outside. Poor Wubbox just wanted to get 17 sacks of coffee and sugar from the store.

“Hey, uh, not right now guys.” they tried to get past the monster wall around them without squishing anyone. “I’m trying to do something super important. I might see you guys later.”

“Bye!”

“Have fun!”

“Love ‘ya!”

“Get back quick.”

Zerkett made their way to the Dilly-Dot Mart five-ish miles away from their house, which wasn’t hard considering that average height and speed of a Wubbox. They walked through the automatic doors and unfortunately, half of the scientists in the city there turned to stare at them. Some were giddy, some more reserved, but the attention was on them either way. Other monsters noticed their staring and followed suit, wondering what was going on. They tried to stay calm about it, occasionally waving to someone and trying their best to smile. Was what I did really that huge?, they thought.

“What’s up, Dr. Zerk?” a rare Pompom waved at Zerkett from the coffee area, which was weirdly close to the entrance. They Zerkett sighed with relief. Finally, a face they do recognize. The rare Pompom was Dr. Pinkledinkle, who went to Gorgo’s Mad Scientist University with Zerkett. They used to be a common Pompom before changing their diet, but Zerkett could still recognize their facial features.

“Oh! Hey, Dr. Pinkledinkle.” Zerkett answered.

“Excellent work on the internet connection project between the Hooman world and the Monster world. This is literally revolutionary. With an easier and more efficient means of communication with the Hoomans, who knows what kind of, like, discoveries and breakthroughs we could make in the next decade…”

They continued to blabber on at Zerkett, who tried to politely reach past them to grab a bag of coffee. They did not have the time nor energy for this.

“…but anyways, have you SEEN how expensive bakery items have gotten in the last few months?”

“Uh huh, yeah, now can you just—“

“Prices on cookies alone have spiked 15.7% since February, and Attmoz knows just how much it’ll increase by 2016!”

Zerkett’s patience was growing increasingly thin. “Yeah yeah I KNOW inflation exists, now will you please mo—“

“Probably because of the sugarcane shortages ever since that darned cement truck—“

“JUST GET OUT OF MY BURCING WAY.”

Zerkett whisper-yelled impatiently at PD. Their sudden outburst left Dr. PD stunned. They stared at the tiled floor. Zerkett immediately felt horrible.

“Uh….sorry….” Zerkett whispered, their voice quivering.

No one was in their vicinity when they lost their temper, so thankfully no one heard.

“I-I really…”

“Nah, I totally understand,” Pinkledinkle replied. “Doing the stuff you do seems really stressful. I can’t even imagine making up some new and unique invention every week and sitting in my lab all day, working.”

“I appreciate your sympathy,” Zerkett responded. “But it’s not really like that. I still very much enjoy making things, but I have recently been feeling quite…bored, with my work.”

“How so?”

“Well, when I first started out my occupation in mechnological inventions and advancements, it was so exciting for me. It was new to me. But as the years went by, 10, I believe? It just became dull and monotonous. It didn’t spark that same joy that I felt when I first started.”

“Because you got used to it.” Dr. Pinkledinkle leaned on the table of coffee sacks next to them. “It became routine. Most monsters don’t like doing the exact same things everyday, even if it’s something they like. Too much of a good thing, y’know?”

“Huh, yeah, I guess so.”

“Have you tried doing something totally different to neutralize that monotony? Like, maybe gardening, or something.”

Zerkett’s eyes lit up. “Actually, I have been pursuing an art medium I’m particularly interested in.”

“Really? That’s awesome, at least you’re not wasting those 23 years at art school!”

“I’ve been chiseling Bubblerite into statues of imaginary monsters. I get all my best ideas from reading Jellji Jito’s comics.”

“You mean, those horror sci-fi comics where monsters constantly undergo freak mutations?”

“Yeah, essentially. Uh, is it okay if I go, now?”

“Of course,” PD replied. They knew Zerkett. They always had something they wanted to do. They often felt tired in public. They had always known them best, they thought.

“Bye.” Zerkett piled on nine bags of coffee and eight sacks of sugar and heaved it all onto the checkout post. No one really paid attention to Zerkett while they were in there, besides a couple glances and some whispering, “Hey, look, a Wubbox”. Most of their popularity came from the scientists, and there weren’t a whole lot of scientists in that store besides them and Pinkledinkle.

“That’ll be 40,000 coins, Mx.” said the Mammot at the counter.

“Wow, sugar really is expensive.”

(Woah, my first ever chapter of my fic! This was supposed to a sort of prologue to chapter 1, mostly to sorta introduce Zerkett, their personality, relationships, the like. The pacing was pretty off because I intended to combine the events of the prologue with what happens in chapter 1. Even if it isn’t the best, I’m still super excited and pumped about future chapters!)