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huffle-dork · 9 months ago

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Swap Beyond the Crystalverse Chapter 19: Resurgence

Co-written with @crystalninjaphoenix Read Swapboys | Read Crystal’s AUs

Other Multiverse Stories: SITCV | SATCV | GITHV

SBTCV Masterpost

As they fall, Alt crouches over Bro and grabs onto Crystal as he closes his eyes. Bro, having been knocked out briefly before, momentarily comes back to his senses and cries out in confusion as he feels himself falling.

“Chase, close your eyes!” Alt warns.

Bro doesn’t question it and does so.

For a split second as they fall, Bro gets a glimpse of colors and shapes, of green eyes and blue feathers and black tendrils and red smoke. For this second, he feels like something is catching a glimpse of him, too. But he closes his eyes quickly and the feeling fades.

And then they land on the ground. They're... back in Jackie's motel room.

Bro shakes himself off, disoriented as he tries to get back to his feet. That was so weird…

"Whoa!" Chase gasps, instinctively opening his eyes at the jolt. "Oh, wait, we're back here?"

"First place I thought of," Anti says. "Is everyone okay?"

Jackie groans and opens his eyes. "What... happened?"

Marvin gasps. "I-I don't feel--I'm fine now!"

"We're too far away," Anti explains. "He needs to know where we are, but his range for sensing people isn't infinite, even with that boost he got from me and Magnificent."

Alt slumps a bit to the floor, still a bit shaky from glitching so much so soon. He pants and looks back at Anti. “W-What do we do?! I… he wants…. Crystal? Why?? And… how are you here?!” Alt asks Crystal again, looking down at them.

“Crystal… isn’t that the name of one of the buds you told me about?” Bro asks, blinking down at Alt.

Crystal shakes themself off, blinking.

"You know her?" Schneep asks.

"Them," Crystal automatically corrects.

"Ah, I see. Apologies."

"It's fine." Crystal starts to stand up. "Uh... hi. Y-yeah, I'm uh... one of Huffle's friends. You... know her, then? That's... huh." They seem pretty disoriented by all this.

"How have things been?" Anti asks.

Crystal looks at him and their eyes seem to light up a bit. "Oh! S-since the hotel, yeah. Uh... good? I mean, could be better, but... good. And, uh... you? Probably... not so good."

"Nope." Anti shakes his head. "But don't worry about it."

Alt looks confused then his eyes widen, “Oh the hotel! Shit… Huffle did tell me about that…”

Are you from another universe? JJ asks.

Crystal's brows furrow. "Uh... I've been studying BSL a bit... I think you asked me if I was from another universe. Uh... yeah. I'm from a third, separate universe from Bro and Alt and Anti here. I've uh... met Anti once. When I accidentally got pulled into his world. Oh no, twice, he got pulled into mine as well. Uh... as for how I'm here... uh... frick, how do I explain this?"

Bro looks very confused. “well uh- Another universe! That’s… cool- one that Alt has been to at least!”

“Yeah I uh- I visit sometimes. Huffle can… uhh she can kinda glitch too? Not like me though- but we have a way for me to come visit as long as she knows I’m coming.” Alt says. “We’ve had to set up ways for Mag to stay away from there cuz apparently he has caused a lot of trouble for all of them too. Especially Huffle but… yeah. I know her… pretty well. We’re good friends.” He smiles.

"Ooookay, great," Marvin says slowly. "That doesn't explain how they're here now."

"You don't have another one of those TRVLR things, do you?" Jackie asks.

"Traveler...? Oh! Yeah, I had a--IRIS would--oh." Crystal nods slowly. "Uh, no, I don't have one. But I, um... back home, I-I have this old laptop that... must have somehow gotten affected by some magic and uh... it can take people to other worlds.I-I thought I'd try it out by coming... here."

“Huffle has that too!!” Alt says, pointing at Crystal. “That’s how I visit her!! And her and some of her other friends have visited us too!”

“Oh yeah!! Maybe that’s how we can get home?” Bro says hopefully.

Alt hums and crosses his arms, “Maybe… but I don’t think you or Huffle know how to fix the TRVLR-“

"No, sorry." Crystal shakes their head. "I can kinda uh... think of the concepts of it, but I don't know how it works, you know?"

"You guys can't expect to go through Crystal and Huffle's world every time you want to go somewhere," Anti says. "We still need the TRVLR for casual travel."

Alt nods, “Yeah I agree… the buds go through enough already… I don’t wanna add to that.”

"Perhaps they could help with that other version of him, then?" Schneep asks. "Crystal?"

"Don't pressure them," Chase says.

"Heh." Crystal smiles. "Uh, it's fine. Th-this is important. I know how important it is. I uh... I know a lot about the multiverse. Or at least this... um... branch? So I-I know about that other Anti. He... looks different than he's supposed to, though..."

Bro looks over to Crystal and hums, “Well- he got a biggg power boost when he first destroyed the TRVLR! He stole like most of Magnificent’s magic and then suddenly he could open up rifts.”

"...huh." Crystal goes quiet for a moment. "I didn't think... of course, magic is energy, and this TRVLR thing probably runs on energy. That's what he does. Control energy. I-it's all he's made of."

"Well great, how are we supposed to fight something that's all energy?" Marvin asks. "Even our version of him is physical sometimes."

"Well... you fight him with energy, I guess," Crystal says.

Alt looks contemplative, “…my magic does work on him. I.. I think it’s an energy he can’t touch. But I… I’m still kinda drained… I-I’d need a really big power source to try to stop him…”

Crystal adds, "Or, uh... he still thinks like a person, you know? You could try to trick him, o-or, uh... goad him on, maybe? To... make mistakes? I-I don't know." They pause. "Shit! We left all my stuff behind!"

"Fuck!" Marvin curses. "We did too!"

Is this really the moment? JJ asks, raising an eyebrow.

Alt pales, “My spellbooks!” He curses and pats down his pocket to make sure he still has the TRVLR pieces. Yep, the TRVLR pieces are still secure in their bag in his pocket. There's that, at least.

Anti sighs. "For fuck's sake, guys. I can go get them. All your stuff. And I'll keep hacking IRIS. You guys just chill here, okay?" And without another word, he disappears.

Crystal nods. "Yeah... that's him, alright. H-he's really bad with people." They look around at everyone else. "So... um... hi."

Alt relaxes and goes to lean against the bed, trying to control his shaking hands.

Bro barks out a laugh, “Yeah he is… but he’s sweet sometimes!” Bro smiles down at Crystal and offers his hand. “We haven’t properly met- even if you know my brother, I guess?”

“…I feel like we…maybe have briefly met?” Alt mumbles, “it’s… fuzzy…”

“Well in any case, I’m Chase, or you can just call me Bro~! For Bro Fantastic!” He grins wide.

Crystal blinks. "Uh--yeah! H-hey, nice to meet you." They take his hand and smile back. "Uh... I've learned a lot about you guys from... Huffle."

"Soooo..." Chase also goes over to the bed, sitting down on the side. "You, uh... like the multiverse then?"

"Y-yeah, I guess--yeah." Crystal nods. "I uh... I think it's pretty interesting. A-and I like to... sssstudy it. So I-I know a lot about a lot of worlds."

"Including this one?" Jackie asks.

"Well I mean... my information might be a bit outdated here, but yeah."

Alt looks intrigued, “Wow really? Huh… I wonder if Huffle knows about multiverses too…” he furrows his eyebrows, “…I mean… I think… your world is another parallel… isn’t it? I think I met some of the others briefly there…? But… that’s fuzzy too…” he looks a bit concerned about that.

“Do you travel around to other worlds too, Crystal?” Bro asks. “Or just… study them? I didn’t even know you could do that! We go in pretty blind!” He laughs.

"H-ha..." Crystal smiles nervously. "I usually just, uh, study them. I-it's fun to me. This is the first time I've gone to another world. Well, uh, on purpose. I got sucked into Anti's world once--uh, the Anti that was just here, Inv--that one. And uh... I guess it has to be possible."

“We’ll have to compare notes then!” Bro says excitedly, “Maybe you know more about universes than even me and Alt do now!”

Alt chuckles, “what notes? We both know we go into these universes flying by the seat of our pants-“

“You know what I mean!”

Speak of the devil, Anti reappears back in the spot where he left, dropping a bunch of stuff on the ground. "This is yours Crystal," he says, holding up a teal backpack. "All your stuff is in there."

"Oh, uh... thanks."

Anti nods and disappears again, going to pick up more stuff. Evidently this will take two trips.

Crystal hurries over and takes it, unzipping it to look inside. A fish plushy falls out of it, yellow with black stripes like a bumblebee. They quickly pick it up again, looking a bit embarrassed. "Uh... I'm gonna... go change in the bathroom. Don't want to be wearing pajamas the whole time."

Alt blinks and smiles as he sees his backpack, glitching down to grab it then hop back on the bed. Alt blinks at Crystal’s plushie then smiles softly, “Aw- cute plush.”

"I, um, thanks!" Crystal still looks a bit embarrassed, but less so now. "H-his name is Bumble. Um--I'll be back!" And they hurry to the bathroom in the back of the motel, closing the door.

They seem nice, JJ says.

"A bit awkward, perhaps, but I think we all are sometimes," Schneep says. "I wonder what their world is like."

Bro chuckles, “I mean- I’d be pretty awkward after having to deal with all of that! …if I wasn’t used to it, that is.”

Anti reappears, dropping off more stuff. "Here. I got to get back to hacking IRIS soon."

"Wait, uh, question." Jackie says. "I checked out of this room, didn't I? Are people gonna, like, stop by if they hear noise in here?"

"Hang on, I can fix that." Marvin holds out his wand, making a swirling motion with it. Sparkling green light trails from the tip, and all the walls briefly glow green before fading. "Soundproofed."

Alt grins, “Nice- now we just gotta hope no one checks into this room before we leave!”

"Yep." Marvin leans back against the wall. "Well uh... guess we just gotta... plan for what to do next."

"After he finishes hacking IRIS, you mean?" Chase asks, and shudders. "That uh... that might take a while. Are we sure we want to find an IRIS place?"

"We need to, if these guys want to fix their thing," Jackie says. "But you don't have to come, Chase."

Chase shakes his head. "N-no, I uh... I should at least drive you guys there."

Alt sighs, “I don’t want to go to IRIS either… I don’t wanna… run into anything bad there…” He takes out bag of parts and frowns, “I wish I just… could will them back together… is it even able to be fixed like this…?” He mumbles.

"It has to be," Schneep says firmly. "Otherwise those people who have been helping you wouldn't have sent you after the pieces. There has to be a chance."

"We'll be careful going there," Jackie says. "I'm sure we can find our way around the place. Stealth mission." He wiggles his fingers.

Bro grins, “Hell yeah! We can be stealthy!”

Alt gives him a look and raises an eyebrow. “Yeah… how well has that worked out for us lately?”

"Maybe you guys just aren't good at being stealthy," Chase suggested. Marvin and Jackie snicker a little at that.

Bro flushes, “wha-! Hey! Alt’s just as bad as I am!”

“Only cuz it’s easy to notice my glitches-“ Alt grumbles.

Anti suddenly appears again. "Ah yes, because breaking into a laboratory and snatching up a piece in front of a bunch of scientists is so subtle. It's clearly just your glitches." And then he disappears before Alt can retaliate.

Alt turns bright red, “Hey!!” He shouts after Anti. He then crosses his arms and pouts slightly, hiding his face in his mask and curling up.

Marvin raises an eyebrow. "Fucking rude."

"Look, whatever happens, I'm sure we can figure something out," Jackie says. "Schneep has the ability to access a bunch of IRIS stuff. Not all of it, but all of their common areas, y'know? So we can like... get disguises and stuff." He looks at Schneep. "Right?"

"Well... I'm sure I can figure something else," Schneep says slowly.

Bro’s eyes light up, “Oh!! Disguises!! That could work!”

"Disguises, or some other excuse for you to be in there," Schneep clarifies. "Perhaps you could be... hm... someone I am showing around the facility? A group of someones?" He hesitates. "If what Chase told us last night is true, you could be explained away as... 'subjects'... but I do not want to do that to you all. Anything else before that."

"You'd need those security guys there anyway to pass them off as subjects," Chase mutters.

"C&C," Schneep says. "That is what they are called. Hmm, some of their uniforms have helmets that cover the faces... hmm..."

Alt visibly flinches and curls up at the mention of ‘subjects’ and Bro seems a bit pale. “I mean… t-that could… work…” Bro says slowly but he looks at Alt with concern.

The others all take note of their reactions.

We don't have to do that, JJ says. In fact, we probably shouldn't. That might get us questioned more.

"I can figure something out," Schneep says. "There must be some sort of spare clothing closet. For uniforms."

Alt slowly nods.

"Hey guys, I noticed another problem," Chase says. "How the fuck are we gonna get there? We left your car back at the hotel and mine is stuck on some country road somewhere."

Bro smacks his forehead, “Ah right! We forgot to get you towed! Fuck!”

Chase laughs. "Hey, things got fucking crazy yesterday, I'm not surprised. To be honest? That's not even my car. It's a rental that I got with some card I found in an IRIS guy's coat. So I'm not too attached to it."

Bro laughs a bit, “Well… that’s a bit better I guess-“

"Maybe we can get it towed now," Jackie says.

The bathroom door opens and Crystal pokes their head out. They're now wearing a pair of purple-rimmed glasses, a matching purple shirt with an eye-looking logo on it, and black pants.

Alt blinks at Crystal coming back out and smiles a bit, “C-Cool shirt-“ he says quietly.

"Oh! Thanks." Crystal pulls the edge of their shirt down. "It's merch for this show called Welcome to Night Vale. It's, uh, a podcast. I need to catch up on it, but it's really good. Surreal and stuff."

"Oh I've heard of that," Marvin says. "I think I saw fanart of it online. That guy with green eyes, right?"

"Um... no, actually."

Green eyes? Are you sure you weren't looking at fanart for Jack's channel? JJ asks.

"I'm sure, the guy usually looks way different."

"Maybe you're thinking of the Magnus Archives?" Crystal suggests.

Marvin shrugs. "I dunno. All I know is it's a podcast."

Alt’s eyes light up, “Oh! I listen to the Magnus Archives!”

“That’s the spooky podcast thing you listen to??” Bro asks.

Alt flushes a bit, “It has a really good story…”

Crystal's eyes light up. "It really does! And I love the different Fears and the concepts of that. My favorite season is season three."

Alt grins, “It’s not very often I met other Magnus lovers! I’m trying to get my boyfriend to listen to it but he’s a big scaredy cat too.”

"Huh. You didn't strike me as a horror lover, Crystal," Jackie says.

"It's uh... a smaller interest of mine," Crystal says, a bit embarrassed. "Hard to really enjoy it when you get scared easily, though. I-I can write it, though."

“Oh you’re a writer, Crystal?” Bro says, “That’s so cool! What do you write about? Well- I guess besides horror-“ he laughs.

Crystal freezes for a moment. "Uh... I like... fantasy," they say slowly. "Uh... i-in recent years I've been writing a lot of... magical realism. You know, stuff where it's the modern world but there's magic inserted into it, usually as a sort of... secret thing. I... have been writing... a classic sort of high fantasy story, too, though." They stammer for a moment. "Um, it's kind of... y-yeah."

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Jackie assures him. "I get it. I used to draw a lot of stuff, I always felt so self-conscious sharing it."

Alt nods too and gives Bro a look. “yeah I’m not willing to share my art too often so we get it.”

“Oh I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable! I was just curious!” Bro says, waving his hands. “so we can uh- get to know you! Since you’re wrapped up in this now too…” “

Yeah that reminds me,” Alt says, leaning forward. “…Anti seems to believe you can give him the power he needs… to delete other worlds… do you know anything about that?”

Crystal stands there for a moment, thinking. "W-well... in my world creativity is... powerful. A-and I'm, um... a writer. So I'm very creative. He probably... thinks that could help him. And, um... judging by how he was... attacking me earlier... He probably thinks the way to do that is to..." They trail off.

Marvin's expression hardens. "To get rid of you."

They nod silently, looking very unnerved.

“Oh yeah I… I think Huffle talked about that a bit? Creativity… huh… I’ve heard that kind of magic is really powerful.” Alt says quietly.

Bro’s eyes burn with anger. “…don’t worry Crystal- we won’t let that happen. We’ll keep you safe.”

Crystal nods again, giving a slight smile. "Thanks. I-I know you will. You're all very strong and cool--or, uh, that's what I've heard from Huffle. About you two."

Bro blinks then laughs, “Well thanks! I haven’t gotten to know Huffle too well but I’m glad my reputation precedes me!”

"Well. This is depressing." Jackie claps his hands together. "Let's do something to pass the time while we wait for the hacker to hack. Guys, I noticed you have a card set last night?"

Marvin crouches by the suitcases Anti dropped off. "Which set?" He pulls out three different decks. "I have normal cards, Uno, this weird crystaleye tarot thing I bought earlier--"

"Crystaleye?" Crystal repeats, eyes widening slightly.

Alt also perks up. “Oh! Crystaleye! I’ve seen those kind of tarot cards before!”

"Really? Huh, they must exist in a couple different universes, then." Marvin opens up the plastic case they come in and unwraps the plastic around the cards. "Said that there were about fifty of them." He fans them out face-up, showing all the illustrations.

"Are tarot cards... real?" Schneep asks doubtfully.

"I dunno, that's magick, not magic," Marvin says casually.

"JJ?" Schneep asks, turning to him.

Depends on the cards, JJ says. These don't seem to have any runes or anything, so they're probably just for fun.

“Oh I didn’t know you could use tarot for more than just… divination.” Alt says thoughtfully. “I think these guys are legit though- they once predicted our whole journey before we were even done!”

"Really?" Marvin looks interested. "Well... that could be the card decks, not necessarily the cards themselves." He flips the deck over. The design on the back is blue, with crystalline lines and a central design of concentric circles that looks a bit like an eye. "Heh. Pick a card, any card!"

"Ah yes, let Marvin show off his terrible card tricks to you guys," Jackie says jokingly.

"Hey I've gotten better!"

Alt laughs, Then he sits closer, “Alright, I’ll bite!”

Bro laughs, “We should start to get you into card tricks Alt.”

“I am an illusionist who performs at raves- not really a skill set I need.” Alt replies a bit haughtily.

"Raves?" Chase perks up slightly. "Oh hell yeah. I went to a couple of those in college. But it's been so long."

Marvin folds up the cards and tries shuffling them... but the deck just collapses in his hands as he tries. "Fuck. Hang on, lemme use the desk." He walks over to the desk and tries shuffling again, but now has the opposite problem, as the cards just get in each other's ways.

Ah yes. So much better, JJ comments, grinning.

"Oh shut up. Here, just pick a card. Someone, anyone!"

Alt glitches over with a laugh and goes to grab one.

He's drawn a card of a man wearing a cat-like mask, one hand pointing up towards the sky and one pointing down to the ground. At his feet is a white cat with gray patches. It's titled "The Magician."

"Okay, and I'll guess what you drew!" Marvin says. "It is the... uh..." His face goes blank.

The four guys exchange glances and grins.

"Yes, Marvin?" Chase asks innocently.

"I uh... forgot to look at the cards to figure out what's in there," Marvin admits. "H-hang on, let me guess. It's, uh--it's Treasure. Wait no, fuck, I'm looking at that right now. It's--it's the, uh... Jester? The Fool? This is a tarot set, they have to have one of those."

The guys are giggling now.

Alt giggles too and Bro hides his laughter, hiding against Alt’s back. He flips it to make sure Crystal can see then back at Marvin. “Well Marv- I’ll say it’s something you’re real familiar with!”

Crystal's eyes widen slightly, then they laugh.

"What?!" Marvin blinks. "Uh--okay, is it a, uh... Fuck, what am I familiar with?"

Jackie wiggles his fingers.

"Jazz hands?"

"Oh my fucking god," Jackie laughs.

Chase has his lips pressed together to stop from laughing as well

"C-come on, Marvin," Schneep says, hiding his smile behind his hand. "What do you do?"

"Magic? Oh fuck! It's the Magician, isn't it?"

Alt bursts into giggles and it’s almost hard for him to straighten back up to show Marvin the card. “Y-Yeah man you got it!”

Bro slow claps for him.

Marvin frowns. "I can do better if I know what's in the deck," he says, fanning out the cards and reading their titles.

Don't memorize the order, that would be cheating, JJ says.

"Well actually that's probably how stage magicians do that. Or they can read the designs on the back of the cards or something."

Alt laughs, “I think it could also be how the card feels. Like maybe there’s a certain texture.”

Marvin takes the Magician card, poorly shuffles the deck again, and fans it out. "Okay, other Chase, you try this time!"

Bro blinks then grins and goes to take a card, “Alright, bro! Let’s see!”

Bro pulls a card with an illustration of a man dressed in red and black holding up a huge rock, protecting two smaller figures at his feet from its fall. It's labelled "The Hero."

Jackie leans over to the side and looks at it. "Huh." He raises an eyebrow. "Cool."

"Okay, so Jackie thinks it's cool," Marvin says. "Uh... it is... the... uh..."

Bro blinks at it in surprise then grins. He raises eyebrow at Marvin. Alt glitches over to look then bites down a laugh and hides his smile under his hand.

"C'mon guys," Marvin says, rolling his eyes. "Okay. Jackie's a comic book nerd soooo... it has to be... the Hero! Unless it's the Hood, I guess? I remember that one."

Bro laughs, “First one, you got it!“

"That's not really magic," Chase says, folding his arms and grinning. "That's like... deductive stuff."

"Hey, I'm not using my magic, I'm trying to use my fucking uh... subconscious. And maybe some deduction. Maybe a lot of deduction."

“Well- we weren’t exactly being subtle so deduction helped,” Alt snickers. Then he hums, looking at the deck. “Hm… I’ve been wanting to work on my divination stuff… maybe I could give it a try?”

"Hmm... alright." Marvin nods. He hands Alt the deck. "You'll probably shuffle it better than me. Look at the cards beforehand so you can check the possibilities."

"Oh, can I draw?" Schneep asks, interested. "I am a bit doubtful about normal tarot, but if Alt will be using magic, I want to see how it works."

Sam peeks out of Jackie's pocket, also interested. How long were they sitting there?

Alt nods to Marvin and tries his best to shuffle the deck- a bit stiff be he manages to make it work. He glitches to sit cross-legged on the bed. He raises an eyebrow at Schneep and chuckles a bit, “Really? I figured you’d be less likely with magic. You seem more like a logic science guy.”

"Oh, I am," Schneep agrees. "But it is not often that you see magic from a different universe! I am so very curious about it."

Can I go next? JJ asks, fascinated.

"Oh, of course, I am sure." Schneep nods.

Alt smiles and nods, “Sure! I’d love to see how this works for different people!”

Crystal pulls out the chair for the desk and sits down to watch.

Alt holds the deck in his hands after shuffling it and closes his eyes, rubbing his hand against the cards. “My mentor says you gotta like… establish a connection. Each deck has its own way to tell you things…”

Once he’s done that he fans out the deck to Schneep. “Usually you can ask questions and do like… multiple card readings. But we can just see if you pull one that speaks to you.” As he talks, his necklace and eyes glow a bit and magic faintly covers the cards. “Or maybe.. whatever you pull will speak to me? I’m… still kinda learning.”

Schneep nods thoughtfully. "So I just pull a single card, then? Alright." He reaches out and grabs a card from the deck, looking at it. "Huh. Interesting."

Alt watches Schneep pull from the deck then fans the cards back into the deck. “Alright let’s see…” he focuses his magic to see if he can guess the card.

The different illustrations of the cards waver through his mind, like they're made out of mist, colors blurring together. He is getting... a figure. A person. A single one. Some sort of... authority? But not too powerful, not an Emperor. A... Doctor? A Hierophant? An Apostle? One of those three. The images of the illustrations seem to blur together, forming the blurry shape of some other scene. A white coat, walking down a white hall, opening a door. Looking for something? Or maybe... helping someone?

Alt furrows his brows as the images flood through his mind. He hums in thought, “It’s… the Doctor… right?” He says, looking back up at Schneep. He seems confused at the other image but.. it makes him a bit more sure it’s the right card.

Schneep blinks, then smiles. "Yes, indeed." He turns it over so the others can see. The illustration was that of a man in a white coat, face in profile, arms extended to either side, each holding some sort of beaker. "That is funny, isn't it? Well, if it was magic, I suppose it was not a coincidence."

"The doctor draws the Doctor," Chase laughs.

My turn! JJ says, looking excited.

"Yes, yes. Here, Alt." Schneep hands the card back to him.

Alt chuckles and smiles, “I guess what else did we expect?” He says as he takes it back. He shuffles them again and then hands the deck out to JJ. “Alrighty J let’s see!”

JJ smiles and takes a card. He looks down at it, raising his eyebrows in surprise. Evidently, not something he was expecting. Schneep leans over to the side, keeping his face carefully blank so Alt can't deduce the card like Marvin did.

Alt makes a face but chuckles good-naturedly at Schneep’s poker face. He concentrates his magic, closing his eyes slightly as he tries to reach out again to see what the card is.

Again, as Alt works his magic, the images of the cards flicker through his eyes, seeming a bit more clear. He's getting a lot of blue and purple. Some sort of spiral? And stars? Huh, this one seems familiar. What was it? Was it... Aeon? No, it was Time, wasn't it?

Alt’s eyebrows furrow as the images form. Time, huh? Yeah he recognizes that one… He suddenly shuts his eyes tighter as the image becomes more- what… was he seeing?

And now the image seems to swirl, the spiral turning. He sees a man with a camera--not a modern one, an old one with reels of film. The reels are spinning, giving off smoke. There is blood on the table. There is blood on the man's hand. There is a shadow behind him, and he can hear laughing, and see the man's hands moving, help, help-- But it's only an image. Like watching a screen. At least it's not real. At least it's not real. As it starts to register he tries to open his eyes with a gasp- but when he does he still just sees the images.

To the others- as Alt opens his eyes all they can see is glowing green-blue light completely overtaking his irises and sclera. His breathing picks up a bit as he’s subjected to more of the vision. Blood- the shadow- help help help-

“A-Alt?!” Bro asks in worry, trying to shake Alt’s shoulder.

Marvin straightens, half-reaching out with sparks of green magic around his fingers, as if he thinks he can shock Alt out of it. The others all snap to attention, unsure how to react but ready to do whatever could help.

Luckily, Alt seems to snap out of it on his own.

Alt gasps a bit more like he was struggling to take in a breath as the magic clears from his eyes. He’s shaking a bit. “T-Time- it was… t…time…” he breathes, not looking at anyone for a second.

JJ nods slowly, flipping the card around. Unlike Schneep's, this one is upside down, the label on the top instead of the bottom. Reversed, JJ says.

"Reversed?" Marvin says. "That means it has the opposite meaning, doesn't it?" He looks at Alt. "Did that... affect your magic, somehow?"

"E-everything good?" Jackie asks.

"Are you okay?" Crystal whispers.

"Do you need a moment?" Chase adds.

“I… I saw… something-“ Alt says hollowly.

“Saw something?” Bro asks.

“B-Besides the card… my magic showed me… s-something else.” Alt shudders a bit. “There was a man with an o-old camera with reels- it started to spin and gave off smoke then there was… blood- on the table on his hands and a s-shadow appeared, there was laughing! The man was signing for help…!”

JJ stiffens. He slowly puts the card down on the table. Marvin glances at him. "JJ...? Was that...?"

A bit of my past, Jameson says slowly. Marvin... do you know what the Time card is supposed to mean?

"Uh..." Marvin searches through the bags for a moment until he finds something, a small booklet. "H-here. This came with the cards. Uh..." He flips to the end. "The Time card is supposed to mean consistency, forward momentum, or someone who's vastly capable. Reversed, it means apathy, or reversal, or a feeling of being trapped."

Jameson nods slowly.

“Trapped… w-with… with Anti-“ Alt says quietly, almost like he’s in a trance again before looking back at JJ with wide eyes. “…I-I… I saw your past-“

“I didn’t know you could do that!” Bro exclaims in disbelief.

“I-I didn’t either!” Alt argues, “I was just- trying to see the cards!”

"W-well... maybe there really is some sort of power in the cards, then," Marvin says. "Some sort of divination that, uh... enhanced your own magic."

Jameson's eyes start to go distant, but he shakes himself out of it. I'm sorry that you saw that particular moment, he says, and tries for a smile. I promise there are more enjoyable things to see in my past. This must have just been bad luck.

"Well statistically--" Schneep starts to say, but Jackie nudges him to stop.

Alt looks down at the cards shakily then shoves out the deck towards the others. “I-I want to try again!”

“Really, Alt?” Bro asks with a bit of concern.

“I gotta make sure it wasn’t a fluke!” Alt insists, “Or maybe… I could do a proper reading…? I-If this is something I can actually do I… I gotta see if I can do it again….!”

"Um... alright," Jackie says. "If you're sure. JJ, do you want to try again, or...?"

Jameson shakes his head. I'd hate to keep the rest of you from trying if you want.

"Well, uh, in that case." Chase stands up. "I'd like to try. I mean... my past is still a bit fuzzy, so maybe some magic will help with that."

Alt seems a bit relieved at this and nods, “Yeah… maybe this can help you!” He shuffles and fans out the deck and offers it to Chase.

"And maybe it can help you, too," Chase says, giving him a crooked smile. He draws a card, looking down at it. "Saying nothing. Zip." He makes a zipping motion across his lips.

Alt laughs and then closes his eyes again, trying to find that same feeling he had with Jameson. Bro watches him with a bit of worry.

The images float through his mind, fuzzier than they were before. Lots of bright colors... no sign of a figure so it's not a person of some kind. Giving nature vibes. Is it the Sun, the Moon, or the Star? Or is it maybe the World or the Forest Path? There's a slight, fuzzy picture, as well. It's hard to make out. There are a bunch of people sitting together, in some sort of... it's hard to tell what. A small, round place, surrounded by sky. Alt can't see much, but he can see smiles on their faces. And he knows they look familiar.

Alt lets his eyes open a bit, a bit of that magic light clear in his eyes. This time- he narrates what he sees. “I see… it’s… blurrier… it’s hard to tell… there’s.. familiar faces- sitting together in a small round place- surrounded by the sky. They’re smiling… it’s… calm.” The magic fades and he blinks back up at Chase. “I wanna say… either the sun… or the forest path? It was hard to tell exactly…”

Chase blinks, and grins, turning the card around to reveal the Sun, its illustration a bright yellow-and orange picture of the solar star itself. "Yep!"

"Huh. Perhaps that was the time we went to the amusement park?" Schneep asks.

"Oh yeah! Small place in the sky--like the Ferris wheel!" Marvin agrees.

Chase laughs. "That's a bit funny. I do remember that, and I remember being freaked out for a bit when we went high. But you guys helped with that. We had a nice little moment."

“Aww yay! A nice memory!” Bro says with a grin.

Alt beams and takes the card back from Chase. “Huh… this is fascinating…” He holds the deck out again, “anyone else wanna try?”

“Oh! Definitely me!” Marvin raises his hand. “I probably don’t have too many bad memories for you to accidentally pick up on anyway.”

Jackie raises an eyebrow doubtfully. “Really?”

“Really.”

Alt chuckles a bit. “If you say so, dude.” He shuffles the deck again then holds out the cards for Marvin to pick.

Marvin grins. He picks out a card. Before he looks at it he grabs his mask from their pile of stuff and puts it on.

You’re so unconfident in your poker face, Marvin, JJ says jokingly.

“When I want to show emotion my face can’t do it. When I want to show emotion my face suddenly does. It’s a curse.” Marvin looks at the card. “Okay. Ready.”

Alt laughs, “That’s fair-“ He then closes his eyes and concentrates on his magic- what can he see?

The image of the cards overlap, blurring together. He can't see their illustrations. Maybe he just needs to focus-- But then that focus is diverted to something else. He sees a man on a stage, a stage that is burning around him in purple and green flames. The audience is running, screaming. And the man is laughing and crying and shouting in anger all at once. Until someone in a security uniform suddenly rushes at him from the side and tackles him to the ground. For a moment, he almost feels like he is there. He can vividly imagine the heat of the flames.

Alt squeezes his eyes shut- trying to get the image to focus. Then he gasps and opens up his magic filled eyes wide- “A stage-“ He starts, mumbling in a trance, “The stage is burning… purple and green flames. There’s… there’s screaming- p-people are running. The man on stage… he’s laughing- no… crying…? No he’s angry…! Flipping through emotions- Someone is coming- rushing at him and-!” Alt suddenly shouts as the vision is so vivid he feels himself thrown back, jolting to fall back against the bed as if he was tackled. He gasps even more, mumbling, “hot..! Hot hot hot…!”

“Alt…!” Bro shouts and bends down to try to shake him out of this, “S-Snap out of it dude!”

Marvin goes a bit pale beneath his mask, taking a couple steps back. The card falls from his hands. An illustration of a burning forest and a flaming bird in the sky. "Wildfire," it says.

"Marvin?" Schneep asks quietly. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah I just... I... didn't think you'd see that," Marvin says slowly.

"Not a lot of bad memories, my ass," Jackie mutters. Marvin glares at him.

"This isn't the time!" Chase shouts at the two of them. "Alt? Alt, a-are you okay?! Look, it's not--not real! There's no fire, look around!"

Alt sticks in the trance for a second, breathing heavily and shaking.

Bro shakes his shoulder some more, “Alt!”

Alt jolts again as the magic snaps out of his eyes. He takes a shaky breath and blinks a bit in confusion, looking around slowly. “… I… d-don’t remember laying down…” he breathes.

“You fell over like you got punched or something!” Bro says with worry. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah… y-yeah I’m fine…” Alt says dazedly.

"I'm... sorry... about that," Marvin says slowly.

It's not your fault, Marvin, JJ signs gently. We had no idea that would happen. It's partly luck of the draw, you know?

"Um... maybe... take a break?" Crystal suggests quietly. "I mean... I'm not telling you to, but it might... I mean if you want to keep going..."

Alt is slow to respond, blinking slowly, still catching his breath on the bed.

“I-I think we should stop…” Bro says quietly, “I… I don’t like this-“

Alt finally pushes himself up and shakes himself off. He looks down at the cards and sees the one Marvin dropped. He laughs a bit, though it’s a little hollow. “Huh… f-fitting…”

Marvin glances down at it. "Yeah... fitting."

Alt contemplates then breathes shakily, “…it’s inconsistent but… I-It can’t be a fluke now… I-I can see snippets of people’s lives through these cards…!”

"R-really?" Marvin asks. "That's uh--that's cool!" He tries to push through his shaken appearance and smile for him.

“Okay good then you can uh- stop now right?” Bro asks.

Alt doesn’t answer- his eyes flicker up to look at Jackie and Crystal.

"Are you sure, man?" Jackie asks, picking up on Alt's look. "What if it's something bad again?"

“…what if it’s not?” Alt replies. He tries to laugh, “…seems unfair to leave some of you guys out.”

Bro frowns, “…Alt-“

“I-It’s not taking up too much magic, Chase. I’ll be okay- besides… how often do we get to do something like this?”

"Well... not gonna lie about being curious," Jackie says, shrugging. "If you're sure--really sure--then I'll take a card."

Alt shuffles again and fans out the cards to Jackie. Bro makes a face behind him. Alt was so curious to a fault sometimes… he just hopes this new ability doesn’t hurt him somehow.

Jackie hesitates, scanning the cards.

"Bro, it's a magic trick," Chase says. "You don't need to think about it so hard."

"I want to get a good one."

"You'll get what you get."

Jackie sticks his tongue out at him, then carefully pulls out a card.

Alt giggles a bit, “It’s okay, Jackie. Whatever you get I’m sure I can handle.” Once Jackie pulls his card Alt closes his eyes again and concentrates his magic.

The illustrations of the cards blur in his mind again. It's something... It's a person again. Not an authority figure this time. Someone... out in nature. The Wanderer? The Adventurer? The Hermit? Beneath the images of the illustration there is a vague, fuzzy scene in Alt's mind. Someone in red, sitting up on a secluded... rooftop? Is that what it is? It's hard to tell, since it's dark. Maybe night time.

“It’s… night- god this one is really fuzzy,” Alt mumbles… “someone in red is sitting on a rooftop… must be you, huh?” Alt laughs. He opens his eyes, them clearing of magic very quick and hums, “Um… the adventurer? That seems fitting for a hero.”

"Ding ding ding!" Jackie grins and flips the card around. The illustration is that of a woman in a classic Indiana Jones-style outfit surrounded by tall green plants. "You probably saw one of my many, many patrols around the city. Rooftops were good, cause like... people rarely see you up there."

“That’s true! Even if you can fly~” Bro grins.

Alt beams, “See? Not so bad~” he laughs. “Still a bit hard to control though…” he glances over at Crystal then at Bro. He shakes the deck in his hand. “You guys could try too?”

Bro makes a face, “…I dunno bro…”

“C’mon dude- what am I gonna see that I don’t already know?” Alt laughs.

"Oh come on, man, we all did it!" Jackie says encouragingly.

"And Alt is right, you guys probably already know a lot about each other," Marvin says. "That's how siblings work, right? I dunno, I never had any."

"I do not think most of us do," Schneep says slowly.

I had a sister, JJ says. But we didn't get along.

Bro makes a bit of an exasperated face then sighs. “Alright- might as well…”

Alt beams and glitches so he’s sitting crossed legged in front of Bro and shuffles the deck before offering the cards to Bro. Bro looks at the cards then carefully picks one, turning it over to look at it.

The illustration of the card has a man dressed in colorful clothing, with a stick with a bag slung over his shoulder like the stereotypical "I'm running away" bag. It's labeled "The Fool". Bro makes a face at the card.

Luckily, Alt had closed his eyes before seeing his face. He concentrates… The card comes pretty easily- it makes Alt laughs as the image of the fool comes to mind. He knows the meaning of this one… it’s in regular tarot decks. A beginning of a journey, infinite potential and a carefree spirit.

An image starts to form. It’s fuzzy… but… he feels like he’s in a car. An older boy sits curled around a younger child, who’s leaning on his lap. A countryside full of bright green trees rolls by- and the older boy is pointing excitedly at the landscape. He keeps looking down at the younger child, making faces and seeming telling stories to make the kid laugh. The memory is warm like the sunlight filtering through the window.

Alt relaxes and smiles, “I see… two brothers, in a car… a rolling green landscape passing by. The older boy is making the younger one laugh as he tells stories and points things out on their journey.” He opens his eyes and smiles warmly at Bro, “The Fool, right?”

Bro blinks then grins, “Yeah! Damn… that sounds familiar… oh!! That… might be the first time Emmy and Aunt Isla picked us up! When we first moved to Ireland!” Bro chuckles, “You were really little then…”

Alt chuckles, “Perfect then- the Fool usually symbolizes new beginnings.”

“Really??? It wasn’t just calling me dumb then?!”

Alt bursts into giggles.

The other guys laugh, too.

"Nah, tarot arcana aren't always so obvious like that," Marvin says. "Like the Death card. People who don't know tarot would be shocked to get that, but it just means the end of cycles and shit."

Alt nods, “The one to really watch out for is the Tower. That’s the one that means bad news.”

JJ picks up the booklet for the crystaleye cards, flipping through it. Schneep and Jackie lean over his shoulders to look. "Ah, if the cards wanted to call you an idiot the Fool would have been reversed," Schneep chuckles, reading out the meanings.

“Huh… interesting.” Bro hums.

"This really has been fun," Chase says. "I mean uh... when a bad memory doesn't come up.

Alt laughs at Chase and nods, “Even with the bad memories… this is so fascinating!”

“Crystal, do you want to go?" Chase asks.

"Huh? Oh, uh... my life is pretty boring, there probably wouldn't be much to see," Crystal says slowly.

Alt blinks at Crystal then smiles. “well- then there might not be much to worry about then! Give it a try!” He shuffles and glitches to go offer the cards to Crystal.

Crystal still seems reluctant, but they nod. "Alright... I hope you don't, uh... see something you... shouldn't. I mean, not in a--you know, bad memories and stuff." They pull out a card and look at it, seeming surprised.

Alt smiles reassuringly, “I’m sure it’ll be fine! And hey- maybe it’ll be a good chance to get to know you~” He glitches back to sit on the bed and closes his eyes to concentrate.

The images of the card illustrations dance, overlapping, until one comes into clear view. Someone sitting at a blank canvas, with short red hair. The Artist. Beneath it is a fuzzy image of people in a room together. They're all strange to Alt, but he feels familiarity with them. Huh, there's one with blue hair among them. This must be some sort of lounge. People are gathered around the television. Maybe they're playing games? In the midst of them, one with red hair and glasses. They're all laughing and chatting. The atmosphere is warm, even though the image is fuzzy.

Alt hums as the image comes into mind. The artist… huh? …didn’t he see that card with blue hair before…? He tries to concentrate more as the vision remains fuzzy but.. like his memory with Bro- this one is nice. It’s warm… “I see… a lounge… filled with friends. They’re laughing- there’s a red haired person amongst them… and a blue haired person. They’re gathered around a tv- playing games.” He opens his eyes and smiles wide at Crystal, “The artist, huh? Guess writers are artists too!” He laughs lightly.

Crystal smiles. "Y-yeah! You got it right!" They turn the card around so he can see the illustration. It does indeed have red hair, not the blue that Alt saw back in the pirate world. "I-I think you saw me and my friends streaming games. We're all artists of some kind. Huffle is one of them! Actually she's usually the one who plays the games while the rest of us joke around."

Alt seems a bit surprised to see the card so different. Then he smiles, “Ah so it was the buds! You looked like you were all having a good time.”

Bring bring bring. Bring bring bring. The ringing sound is coming from Crystal's backpack, which they left over by the bathroom. They turn around, blinking in surprise. "Huh? I-I already have my phone." They pat their pocket. "That... must be..." Curious, they walk over and start looking through the pockets.

Bro and Alt tilt their head towards the bathroom. “…it’s not your phone?” Bro asks, “what is it then?” Alt shrugs, shuffling the cards again then staking them up.

"Oh, well, it is technically my phone," Crystal says. They take a phone out of the front pocket of the backpack. It's in a green case with yellow polka dots. "Just not the one I uh... Just not my normal one. I've never gotten calls on this."

They answer the phone-- Its screen emits a ray of light, shifting through greens and blues. Crystal yelps and drops the phone. It lands screen up, and the light coming from it gets brighter and brighter, reaching to the ceiling--until it suddenly stops. And someone is standing nearby.

"Huffle?!" Crystal gasps.

Alt glitches to his feet, skidding into view of the bathroom. “W-what?! Huffle?!”

Huffle stumbles a bit and looks at Crystal then Alt with wide eyes. “…t-The fuck is happening right now?! H-hello???” She points accusingly at Alt. “w-What are you doing here?!”

Alt points right back at her, “What are you doing here?!” he repeats in a bit of panic.

“I-I dunno!! I was looking for Cry cuz I haven’t seen them all day so I wandered into their room and t-their laptop was open! I took a peek and now?? I’m here??” Huffle looks to Crystal with wide eyes. “Cry what… what is this??” She looks a bit panicked, “W-We’re not back in that hotel are we?!”

Bro now peeks his head in to look at them, “The fuck is happening….?”

“BRO IS HERE TOO?!” Huffle screeches.

"No no no, we're not in the hotel!" Crystal says hurriedly. "We're--uh--Okay so--you went into my room to look at my laptop? Uh--I-I guess we need locks on the doors there, uh--"

“I went looking for you! You were gone and I-I dunno I got worried! Last time you just disappeared…” Huffle trails off, gripping a hand over her heart.

"Uh, heyyyy." Jackie leans to the side, waving. "I'm guessing this is that friend you mentioned?" Chase asks.

"Uh, yeah, yeah." Crystal nods. "Huffle, this is... the guys. Guys, this is Huffle. She's from... my universe?"

Huffle looks at the guys and blinks a lot in confusion. “…not our guys- and not the inverted guys…? I mean thank god but-“

"So what is that phone, then?" Schneep points at it, still on the ground. "Is that how you travel to different worlds?"

"Uh, yeah, that's how I get back." Crystal looks at Huffle. "Well uh... hi”

Huffle trails off as Schneep asks and then looks back to Crystal. “Hi-“ She says, trying to smile.

“So... that was my old laptop. The one that brought us to the hotel in the first place. I've been, uh, trying to see if I can use it to go to other worlds. So I thought I'd check on this world. It's uh... you know..." Crystal is scrambling. "The one I call 'the resurgence world,' you know? Though, uh, it looks like a lot of time has passed since I last checked in."

Huffle blinks in surprise. “oh…! Yeah that one…” she then looks back at Alt and Bro. “…why are these two here then?!”

“Uh- that’s a… really long story-“ Alt says.

“I bet! I haven’t seen you guys in forever!” Huffle huffs, crossing her arms.

"They have been traveling through universes!" Schneep says excitedly. "And they accidentally came here, but now that they are here, we hope to be able to help them to fix their traveling device!"

"Y-yeah... really crazy," Crystal laughs.

"Wait, can you go back to your world now?" Marvin asks. "It'll be safer there than here!"

Crystal shakes their head. "Th-that's not--I have a timer on the phone for the way back to open up, j-just in case someone... bad finds it before I'm ready to head back. I mean, I also have a password for it, but someone could guess that so I thought to be extra safe--maybe it doesn't really make sense, actually--"

Huffle blinks rapidly in confusion, “You two are what?! since when did you guys start doing that?!”

“Oh we’ve been doing it for months now!” Bro says proudly.

Alt winces a bit.

“Months?!” Huffle gasps.

“I wanna say close to a year? We had a couple gaps between adventures.” Bro adds.

Huffle looks flabbergasted. “How- I… how is that even possible???”

“I mean- Mag started it. Which makes sense considering he’s been to your world,” Alt says.

“Yeah and you’ve been to ours! So not so crazy, right?” Bro tries to laugh.

“T-That’s different! You guys… going to other worlds I don’t even know about…!” Huffle mumbles, pushing her hair back.

Alt knits his eyebrows together, “…what’s the big deal with that? I mean… I’m sorry I haven’t kept in touch but… I… we do a lot of stuff without you knowing-“

“My head hurts-“ Huffle mutters and goes to rest her head against Cry’s shoulder, “Cry I think my brain is burning up-“

Crystal reaches up and pats Huffle's shoulder. "I mean... I guess it makes sense, doesn't it? The worlds are gonna continue on even when we don't, uh... check on them. A whole bunch has happened here since I last left this world."

Huffle nods, “Yeah… guess that makes sense… just didn’t realize that included multiverses…!”

Alt laughs sheepishly, “to be fair… we never really expected to be here either… It just sorta happened…? But now like… it’s really fun. And we help people.”

“Yeah! And we’ve made lots of awesome new friends!” Bro says excitedly. “And seen sooo many cool places!”

Huffle smiles warmly at the boys, “That’s great, you guys.”

Crystal glances around. "Uh... we can talk more about how crazy this all is later. Oh! Also Anti is here. The Anti from the inverted world."

Huffle blinks at Crystal then grins, “Oh! Inverted Anti! …wait he can travel multiverses too??”

"Uh... I don't think he can?" Crystal says slowly. "But there must be some way that they're getting around." They shrug. "I dunno."

“He’s been helping us actually- otherwise we’d be whisked away by rifts! Sam is helping us- but the Sam from uhhh the world where everyone got corrupted.” Bro adds. Alt shudders a bit.

"So fucking weird to see that guy," Chase mutters. "He's so much like... the version of him that I know. We know."

JJ shrugs. In any case, nice to meet you! I'll assume you already know all our names, since you're from a world where we exist.

"Oh fuck, wait, can she understand you?" Marvin asks. "Uh, JJ says it's nice to meet you!"

"And that you probably know who we are," Jackie adds.

Huffle looks to Jameson and then giggles, “Oh don’t worry my boyfriend Mar-“ She cuts herself off and blushes bright red, realizing there’s another Marvin right there, “I-I’ve been learning to talk with h-his brother. It’s nice to meet you too! And y-yeah I… I know all of you… vaguely.” She smiles shyly.

"Also, you should probably know about the other Anti, too." Jackie says.

Crystal winces. "Yeah uh... there's another version of Anti here. I-I don't think you know about him... Have I talked about the rift world before? Probably... not that much."

Huffle looks at Crystal with confusion, “another Anti?! Jesus… and uh… I don’t think so?”

Alt frowns, “Inverted… the Rift world… you have some really specific names for these worlds… I’ve only ever been able to tell them apart cuz… well we’ve been there and the TRVLR gives us codes for them…” he looks back to Huffle. “You seem familiar with these places too-“

Huffle stiffens, “oh uh- m-me and Cry talk a lot about… different universes, you know?” She laughs nervously.

"Y-yeah." Crystal nods awkwardly. "I-I like to give them good names. To... remember them. Inverted is called that because everyone's morality is the opposite of what it usually is: inverted. A-and the Rift is called that because... it has a lot of rifts that open up and let people come in and out of the universe. They really like the multiverse in that world. Probably one of the few worlds that know it for sure."

Alt nods to Cry’s explanation, “Guess that makes sense…”

“Huh- sounds like our Dnd game, Cry,” Huffle laughs.

"Oh my god, it kinda does," Crystal says, grinning.

"And that's why the Anti from there wants to destroy other worlds?" Jackie frowns. "Or, uh... at least knows about other worlds so he can want to destroy them."

"That makes it sound so much worse than it is!" Crystal gasps. "I-I mean--he can't destroy worlds. Even if he wants to, i-it's like--It would take so much power to do that, a-and nothing in my--in this sort of, uh, branch of worlds has enough power to do that. Though, uh... Clearly he thinks that... by... H-he attacked me while I was in here, he must think that will... help him do that."

Huffle looks concerned as Crystal explains, “…I haven’t heard of anything strong enough to do that either… but uh- I have heard… creativity is… really powerful.” She looks at Crystal with wide eyes, seeming a bit scared.

"Yeah, Crystal said that it's like, a force in your world, right?" Marvin says. "Which is... so interesting, but worrying for you two."

“Yeah.. a bit- I can’t tell you how often we’re targeted cuz of that,” Huffle sighs heavily.

"Don't worry, we'll protect you!" Jackie grins. "We have all sorts of powers! We can fight him off, I'm sure!" He makes a fist and punches his palm, a ring of silvery green energy appearing around it.

Huffle blinks then smiles warmly at the others. “Thanks guys… that helps me feel better…”

Chase laughs. "Yeah, bros! And he has to know where you are, right? We just gotta keep you hidden until you can get back to your world."

"Um... maybe you can fight him back with... energy?" Crystal wonders. "He's all energy so you can't fight him physically, but... maybe... something like that? And you can, like, trick him and stuff. His brain still works like a person's."

Alt nods, “I’m sure we can find some way to fight him… just gotta make sure he doesn’t get to us first.”

Huffle fidgets a bit with a gold heart locket around her neck. “Uh… I’ve kinda been learning magic but… I-I’m still not very good but- I… at least know how to fight!” She tries to say confidently.

"And I have this." Crystal reaches into their pocket and pulls out a pocket knife with a red handle. "But, uh, that's not gonna do much against that Anti, I guess."

Huffle giggles, “Always good to have a knife on you- just in case.”

"Hey, that's more than I have right now!" Chase says. "For both of you! I know I used to have a gun but uh... that's very illegal here so IRIS confiscated it."

Well they might have also not wanted you to have that against them, JJ says.

"That, too."

The sound of static fills the room. The five guys from this world all instinctively tense, but then Anti appears--the inverted Anti. He looks around. "...huh. Now there's two of you."

Alt blinks then grins, “Hey Anti.”

"Hiiiii Anti." Crystal waves. "You remember Huffle?"

Huffle jumps slightly with a squeak, then blinks rapidly at Anti. “oh- hi! S’been a while! …sorry to just drop in?” She grins sheepishly.

"Not a problem. How did you get here, though?" Anti asks.

"She just sorta... accidentally went through my thing back home," Crystal explains. "A-and now we're gonna be stuck here for a while cause I have a timer on my return thing."

"Ah." Anti nods. "So you'll be here for the IRIS thing, then."

Chase sits up straight. "Did you find one?"

“IRIS…? That’s a thing here??” Huffle says with wide eyes.

“You know about IRIS too?” Bro asks with a tilted head.

“Uh… I-I’ve heard about it… never really… been-“ Huffle says slowly. “why are you guys going there?”

“We’re hoping they have the plans to fix our multiverse jumping device-“ Alt explains. He looks to Anti, “What did you find out?”

"There's one out that way." Anti points. "About thirty minutes out of town. It's hidden under a hill."

Marvin raises his eyebrows. "How very Fair Folk of them."

"It's ironic, isn't it?" Anti agrees. "The place is mostly empty. The machines work automatically. I think it's our best bet to find something. I also found a rental car place on the way that has big vans for rent."

Alt brightens up, “It’s mostly empty?? That’s perfect!”

Bro grins, “Sick dude! Sounds like we’re good to go!”

Huffle chuckles a bit and shrugs, looking at Crystal, “I guess it’s time for another adventure, huh?”

"Heh. I guess so." Crystal grins a little. "Let's head out, then."

"Where is this rental car place?" Marvin asks. "Better be close by. I'm not walking too far this early in the morning."

"It's just down the street, don't worry," Anti says. "Grab all your stuff. We're moving out."

#SBTCV #swap beyond the crystalverse #SBTCV resurgence #resurgence #I LOVE THIS SECTION!!#alt learns he can seer!!#and another creator joins the party!! :D MEEEE #in our rps c!huffle has already met and is pretty close to alt and kinda knows bro but not as well ajhbak #like- in one rp with my friend storm me and alt get kidnapped and alt gets like severely mind fucked HGJBK #alt is a frequent accessory to some whump rps zhgjbahk #anyways!! we love getting meta- im here too!#and surprisingly me and cry wrote this before we started dating but hehehe c!huff and c!cry are pretty close here :)#we're getting real close to the end my guys!!

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huffle-dork · 9 months ago

Text

Swap Beyond the Crystalverse Chapter 20: Resurgence

Co-written with @crystalninjaphoenix Read Swapboys | Read Crystal’s AUs

Other Multiverse Stories: SITCV | SATCV | GITHV

SBTCV Masterpost

It's about a ten minute walk to the rental car place. From there, Marvin and Chase talk to the person about renting a van, and manage to get a black one. The inside is actually pretty sweet, with enough seats for all of them--driver's, passenger's, and then three bench seats inside. Marvin grumbles a bit about the price until Schneep rolls his eyes and steps in to cover half the fee.

"Whoaaa..." Crystal says. "I've never seen a van this big before!"

Me neither, JJ says. It's quite impressive!

“Dude!! Cool!” Huffle exclaims.

“Very cool-“ Bro laughs, “It’s like we’re going uncover! Like a spy mission!”

Alt adjusts his bag and double checks on the TRVLR pieces. “Okay… 30 minute car ride… I-I can do that…”

"Are you not good with tight spaces, Alt?" Schneep asks.

“…I’m not but this should be fine…” Alt grumbles. “just… keep me next to bro or Huffle…”

“Awww you trust me that much, Alt?” Huffle smirks at him a bit.

Alt flushes a bit. “…I at least know you a bit better…”

"Oh, I feel that," Marvin says. "But looks like no one's gonna be stuck three to a row, at least."

"No trunk, though, so we'll have to keep our stuff under and next to the seats and stuff," Chase points out. "Is that okay?"

Alt nods to Chase, “Yeah that should be fine.”

"Alright, everyone in, then!" Jackie says. "Shotgun!"

"Hey, what?!" Schneep protests. "No!"

But it's too late, Jackie is aleady in the passenger seat. JJ chuckles.

Alright, who want's the back, then?

"I'll be fine back there," Crystal says, climbing in first. "Growing up my family had a minivan and I always had the far back seat."

“Yeah I’ll go with cry… I get carsick-“ Huffle mumbles, climbing in after.

Alt glitches after them and Bro hops in after. “Let’s goooo!”

"...ah shit I miscalculated, looks like the three of us gotta sit all three on a bench," Marvin says, looking over at Schneep and JJ.

That's fine if you're fine with it, JJ says.

Schneep grumbles about missing the passenger's seat but accepts the situation. The three of them get in, and then Chase gets in the driver's seat and heads off.

White noise comes from the car radio, followed by Anti's voice. "Alright. Keep going down Earnest Street until you get out of the city."

"Heh. GPS Anti." Jackie grins.

Alt giggles, “First personal assistant, now upgraded to GPS!”

"I think that's a downgrade, actually," Anti says. "But I didn't want to take up space in the van. You got it, Chase?"

"Yeah." Chase nods as he pulls out onto the street. "Man. Feels so weird to be on good terms with someone who looks like that... guy. Who technically is that guy."

"What are things like in your world, Anti?" Marvin asks.

"Pretty similar... but also the exact opposite."

Earlier Crystal said something about your world having... reversed morality? JJ asks. So... the five of us would be the bad guys, then?

"...Exactly," Anti says.

Alt, Bro and even Huffle nods. “Yeah uh… when we first came eveyone was a bad guy but Anti.” Bro says. “…Jackie’s better now. And Chase.. and uh… I don’t think Schneep is in his right mind…”

Alt says quietly. “It’s … Marvin and Jameson who are the real danger…”

“Nothing like you lads though!” Bro adds quickly, grinning sheepishly.

"JJ is a danger?" Marvin repeats, surprised.

You're not going to comment on you being a danger, too? JJ asks.

"Well uh... I can..." Marvin pauses, swallowing his words. "You're just so nice, y'know? I-I can't picture Jackie being a bad guy, either."

"Aw, thanks." Jackie grins. "Sounds like that me is learning, though."

"Not being in one's right mind is not an excuse," Schneep says. "Even at my lowest, I-I never... hurt people. Well, n-not without him there to influence things."

"I guess the multiverse is a big place," Chase says. "Do you think there are worlds where one of us is the bad guy instead of him?" Marvin asks quietly, thinking about what Alt and Bro said about Magnificent.

"Oh, for sure," Crystal says. They blink. "I mean, uh... i-it's a big... multiverse."

Alt and Bro exchange weary glances. “…there’s… a few…” Alt says.

“Yeah- like the switch world,” Huffle says.

“…the what world?” Bro asks.

Huffle flushes and waves her hand a bit. “Oh! T-That’s what Cry calls the one where D-Distorter is…!”

“You know Distorter?!” Alt asks in worry.

“No no! I just… I know of him… I’ve heard uh… stories.” Huffle says, glancing at Crystal.

Crystal nods. "Y-yeah. Like I said, I, uh, study other worlds. And I've seen that one before, a-and told Huffle and some other friends. There's, uh... also... other ones that I've, uh... caught glimpses of? But haven't really, uh, studied. Like... there should be a world where things are shifted around and like Schneep is the bad guy while Anti is a doctor and so on. Me and some others have talked about that one, but that was a while ago..."

Schneep raises his eyebrows. "I cannot possibly see any version of Anti as a doctor."

“It was really really weird,” Alt chuckles. “one of the weirdest part of that universe.”

“I thought me being a magician was pretty weird.” Bro laughs.

“You guys went to that one too?? Huh…” Huffle hums in thought.

"You guys went to that one?" Crystal repeats, eyes going wide. "Uh... out of curiosity, did you go to one with like... vampires and werewolves and ghosts? Where Schneep and JJ were vampires and Jackie was a werewolf and stuff? O-or did you go to a world where everyone except Chase was a fairy creature in a small town?"

Alt and Bro look at Crystal with wide eyes. “Uh… y-yeah we did-“ Alt says.

“What?? I-I haven’t even heard of those before!!” Huffle gasps.

"I've uh... only had 'glimpses' of those," Crystal explains. They look at Huffle and laugh awkwardly. "You know... just enough to get a basic concept and plo--uh, understand basic events and, uh, conflicts. I didn't know that they were like... full... things." They tilt their head thoughtfully. "I guess... huh. I don't know. There must be so many worlds out there."

Huffle makes a face as she thinks, “Huh… yeah… I wonder..”

“Those arent even the weirdest we’ve seen!” Bro says excitedly. “Like the alien merman one on the subnautica planet!”

Huffle makes a choking noise and suddenly goes very pale, “t-the what…?” She whispers.

Alt looks back in concern, “Huffle are you okay? You look really pale.”

“…were… were that boys called… Hybrids there?” She quietly asks.

Bro nods, “Yeah they were- and there was a company called-“

“Alterra.” Bro and Huffle say at the same time. Huffle looks even more white in the face.

Crystal glances over at Huffle. "H-huh. So... you've been to worlds that both of us... know about. That's... so weird."

Anti speaks up from the car radio again. "There was also an, ah, adventure where three other guys got sucked along. The Jackie from my world, the Jameson from the switched world, and the Schneep from the world with Stitches."

"What?!" Crystal seems shocked by that.

"You two okay?" Chase asks, looking into the rearview mirror.

"Y-yeah. I just... it's amazing what can happen when you're... not... looking," Crystal says haltingly.

Huffle slumps back into her seat, looking a bit freaked out. “I… I just… never thought those worlds would… o-overlap like that…”

"Usually branches of the multiverse don't overlap so frequently," Anti says. "These two are becoming pretty close."

“I mean- we technically went to two of the alien world- and it was with those guys too! Though huh… guess those are good ways to remember their world names. Switched… Stitches-” Bro says, “the other alien one was uh… kinda scary though. But we did help the guys there!”

Alt shudders and touches his jaw- and when Huffle looks over she sees his scars. She gasps loudly, “d-darker seas?!” before she claps her hands over her mouth. She looks very very shaken as she curls up slightly in her seat.

"Oh yeah that one!" Crystal nods. They glance at Huffle. "You okay?"

Huffle looks at Crystal with wide terrified eyes as she shakily gestures to Alt’s jaw. She mouths out to them, “The masks-” Alt blinks and self consciously tries to cover his jaw- looking at Huffle and Crystal a bit suspiciously.

"It's kind of weird that you two know so much about other worlds," Jackie says. "Not in a bad way! Just... weird. It's like, uh... like meeting someone who was a teacher in uni who remembers you but you don't remember them."

Alt hums in agreement with Jackie, “yeah… besides Anti I… havent really meet anyone else who knows so much about the multiverse… what is that you guys study to know all this anyways?”

Crystal is not good at reading lips, but they look back to Alt and their eyes widen slightly. "Oh, um... it's like... k-kind of like scrying, I guess..." Crystal says awkwardly. "Magic, you know? But uh... magic fueled by creativity."

That is so fascinating, JJ says, looking back at them with wide, interested eyes. What are your methods?

"W-well, uh... we... it's like, electronic, too," Crystal says. "Like my laptop. We channel our creativity through devices, you know? And it... becomes... magic. And tells us... what's going on in other worlds."

Huffle looks at Crystal and then nods, “Yeah I uh… I can do that too! And I’ve… seen that… subnautica world a lot… and I…” Huffle’s expression almost looks… guilty? “…I know how… c-cruel Alterra can be… I… I’m sorry you all had to go through that…”

Alt’s eyes widen, “Oh…! Like I could do with the cards!” His suspicious posture relaxes and he smiles, “That’s really cool… maybe you guys could show me how to do that sometime! Since I’m learning how to scry a bit~”

Huffle squeaks at this and covers her mouth again.

"Uh--it might not work outside of our world," Crystal says. "Or if you don't have the, uh, creativity magic. Just letting you know."

“Oh yeah… guess that’s different than chaos magic,” Alt hums.

It's still very fascinating to hear! JJ says excitedly. I've always been interested by magic and witchcraft and such. It might be because I was born on such a strange day.

Huffle giggles a bit, “I love that kinda stuff too… that’s why I’m trying to study it… but I’m jealous JJ- Halloween is my favorite holiday. I’m too close to christmas.” She grumbles.

"Yeah, if I was born on Halloween I might be interested in stuff like that, too," Chase says. "Anti, are you sure I'm supposed to keep going down this street? It's curving a lot. All twisty."

"Yes, that's what most roads do," Anti says. Chase makes a face towards the car radio. "But as you can see, we're getting to the edge of the city," Anti says. "This is a suburban area, right? Soon the houses will disappear and we'll be on a little road heading straight across the countryside."

Bro looks outside then chuckles, “Well- won’t it be nice to take a ride through the countryside~”

“Yeah, a thirty minute ride through the countryside,” Chase says. “That’s not much of a ride.”

“Dude, you kidding? That’s so long!” Jackie says.

“I agree with Jackie,” Schneep says. “That is quite long to drive.”

“Well I don’t mind it,” Chase says.

“You know, one time I drove two hours to visit my sister,” Crystal says. “I actually really liked it but my parents are always like ‘oh we don’t want you to drive that far’ whenever I mention I did it.”

“Dude I used to drive 3 to go to college. It’s 5 to get to Sparky if we were back at home.” Huffle laughs. “It’s cuz you all are … european- except Chase. He gets it.”

“I just don’t like driving,” Alt huffs, “Glitching is faster…”

“Or flying! But- hey- nice to just sit back once in a while~” Bro laughs.

Chase nods. "Even though I've lived here for a while, I still remember the drive times."

I do agree, JJ says cheerfully. So many autos these days! It's so handy!

"Ha, alright, you old man," Jackie says.

The suburban buildings do eventually fade away, turning to rolling hills. It's a pretty nice day, actually, with skies that are mostly clear, save for a few fluffy clouds dotted about.

"Do you think everyone should go in when we get there?" Jackie asks. "That, uh... might attract attention."

“…if people stay behind- someone should stay to watch the others… in case the other Anti finds us.” Alt says.

Chase shudders. "Honestly, I don't think I could... go into an IRIS place. So I'd like to stay behind. I could keep the car ready in case we need to get away quickly."

JJ frowns. I'm not sure I'd be of much help in IRIS. I can stay behind.

"I have to come, of course, I am the one with permissions to get in," Schneep says. "Jackie or Marvin should stay to protect the others. Crystal, Huffle? What about you two?"

Crystal blinks. "What do you think, Huffle? I, uh... I mean, I'm curious about what's in there."

“I mean… I am too… but I don’t want to get in the way.” Huffle says quietly.

“Well Anti did say it was mostly empty. There’s probably not much danger!” Bro says brightly.

Huffle hums then shrugs, “Yeah if it’s okay with you guys..”

Alt smiles, “Sure thing- I get being curious~”

"Alright, I'll come too, then," Crystal says. Huffle beams at her friend and nods.

"I'll stay back to guard Chase and JJ, then," Marvin says. "I probably won't be much help on a stealth mission. I'm not good at being... subtle."

"No," Schneep drawls sarcastically. "We had no idea."

Bro pats Marvin on the shoulder and nods in understanding.

Alt snickers a bit, “Hey man we get it-“

"As evident by Anti coming back just to diss you about that," Chase says.

Alt flushes again and glares at Chase.

"Well luckily for you guys I am great at stealth!" Jackie says cheerfully. "I mean... I'm a good fighter, too. But I've snuck into a lot of places to spy on criminals or find stuff they're keeping, so I've learned stealth over time. If this was that Dungeons Dragons game I'd be a rogue."

"Dungeons and Dragons," Marvin says. "And you'd be a fighter/rogue multiclass. Maybe a level or two in sorcerer. Or maybe warlock, considering your powers came from Sam?"

Huffle perks up as they talk about dnd, “Oh! I have a character just like that! Well the fighter/rogue thing! He’s actually based-“ Then she eeps and covers her mouth again.

"Uh--based on a friend of ours," Crystal hurriedly adds.

Alt and Bro give her and Crystal a look. “Wellll- at least Jackie has us covered on stealth…” Bro says.

“I can be sneaky…” Alt whines, crossing his arms and pouting slightly. “I lived on the streets for years! You gotta be stealthy doing that!”

"Oh, really?" Marvin turns around to look at Alt. "Like, literally, or do you mean in hotels and stuff?"

"Marvin, that is a bit personal," Schneep says quietly.

Alt blinks as if he just realized what he said. Then he looks away, his face red again as he hides it in his mask. “Uh… h-here and there… not hotels but… I had a… coven- kinda… it’s complicated.”

Marvin slumps. "Um... sorry," he says quietly. "I just uh... I-I was... I mean, technically I still am, uh... I-I don't have a solid place to stay. I-I'm really lucky that I had a lot of earnings from my days as a big showman to spend on hotels and shit, but um... it's still... There was a time period when I couldn't... s-sorry. Just... sorry."

Alt blinks back at Marvin then shakes his head, “it’s okay… sorry you’re uh… dealing with that too. It sucks… it really sucks.”

"It does," Marvin agrees. A moment passes in quiet. "But, uh... since we refurbished JJ's old house I've been able to stay there a lot. When he's okay with it, of course."

Of course I'm okay with it, whenever you need it, JJ assures him. I really hope nothing's happened to it while we've been gone. Ownership is still complicated, given the whole... time... problem.

Alt nods with a smile. “That’s good. I uh- me and Chase live together. So-“

“So he’ll never have to worry about being on the streets again!” Bro says loudly, scooping Alt into a half hug. Alt blushes again and grumbles.

“…why don’t you just move in with JJ, Marvin?” Huffle asks, “Living in hotels and stuff… that’s gotta be… I dunno- lonely? Seems like you gotta lot of people here who’d be willing to help you.”

"Yeah. I, um... bounce around," Marvin says slowly. "I, uh... I-I like my space, though. Sometimes I need my own area. But uh... I have been... staying with him a lot."

JJ smiles.

"I don't want to impose too much, though," Marvin mumbles.

"Dude, shut up, you all know you wouldn't 'impose' on any of us," Jackie says. "You could stay with me whenever you wanted!"

"Your apartment is tiny, though. And your sofa is uncomfortable."

"It's the spirit."

Alt nods in understanding, “I get it. Sometimes I go to my old place just to get away.”

“Yeah- now it’s a cool training studio though!” Bro chuckles.

“It’s a bit nicer to hang out at now, yeah,” Alt laughs, “Now that we you know- actually pay to use it.”

"Yoooo, training studio?" Chase says. "For like, your superhero stuff? That's sick."

"That's really sick!" Jackie says excitedly. "What's it like there? Is it like--a gym or something?"

Schneep rolls his eyes. "You are the only one out of this group who would get so excited about a gym."

"A superhero gym!"

Bro laughs, “It’s kinda just basic- just some punching bags and training dummies and sparing mats! I’m trying to get Alt to be a little more athletic for these adventures~”

Alt snorts, “I’m plenty athletic…”

“You spend most of your time reading spell books and shit! That’s not athletic!”

Huffle giggles.

"Dude, I get it," Jackie laughs. "None of these guys know anything about physical stuff." He pauses. "Well... JJ is weirdly strong, actually."

I know how to defend myself, that's all, JJ says.

"One time you knocked me down flat."

"Whoa, you did?" Chase glances back at JJ. "How'd you do that?"

It's just that Jackie wasn't expecting it, JJ says. Nothing special, really. I don't like to fight all that much but I can if necessary.

“Heh- that’s like our Jay!” Bro says with a grin, “He and his brother used to box when he was growing up but he doesn’t like to fight, but he can defend himself!”

“Kinda hard to imagine a therapist that can punch your lights out,” Alt laughs.

Jackie laughs. “I think our JJ is more experienced with knives.”

JJ shrugs. I suppose, but I prefer not to.

“No one is making you fight anyone, Jays,” Chase says. “You don’t have to keep protesting. It’s not like we’re signing you up for a boxing tournament against your will.”

I just want everything to be clear, JJ insists.

“You sure you don’t want to come into the building?” Jackie asks. “Punching someone would be much more helpful in there than outside.”

I’m sure. Hopefully you all won’t need to punch anyone at all.

“God I can’t imagine Dr. J using a knife-“ Alt says.

“He learned to use a bow in the medieval world! Not the same thing though,” Bro laughs.

Huffle blinks and looks at them, “You guys went to a medieval world too??”

“Yeah! Twice actually!” Bro grins.

Crystal tilts their head. “…huh. I-I know that one, too. I think. The guys all have masks there, right? Part of some rebellion against the King?”

“What? That sounds sick as fuck,” Marvin says, looking back at the others.

Bro points excitedly, “Yeah! The Masked Phantoms! Dang you know a lot Crystal!”

Huffle blinks at Crystal a bit in surprise. She laughs quietly, “…I can’t imagine these two there… but now? Heh- I think I can see it.”

“Y-yeah. I bet that was a lot to get used to.” Crystal laughs. “I-it’s um… entirely medieval. Vaguely, I mean. It doesn’t—I don’t think it lines up with a real world time period. You guys were there twice? Huh. I wonder… what the guys were doing at the time.”

“Well the first time they were just chilling at Wyvern lair and helped us find Mag who was with the king!” Bro says, “Alt kicked the king’s butt and sent him off running.”

Alt gives a weak, bashful smile. “The second time uh- I think they said they got discovered and so they had to go somewhere else- it was this really cool cliff camp! And we had to take like 3 different boats to get there.” Bro laughs. Alt curls up a bit, holding his arms. “They were talking about a quest they had- to go to the Wyldwoods… something was there to defeat the King and save Jack. But we were also there to save Alt too-“

“Save Alt…?” Huffle asks with a bit a concern, “…from what?”

Crystal nods along as Bro talks, understanding everything.

"Uh... you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Jackie says, noticing the way Alt seems to shrink back.

I suppose something bad happened along the way, JJ says. That's enough to understand.

Crystal frowns. "I, uh... can imagine all sorts of bad things happening in that world... Especially with Anei--with the spirit controlling the King. But, uh, like Jackie and JJ said, you don't have to talk about it."

“Oh- oh yeah uh… right- Jesus sorry Alt-“ Bro says, looking at his brother.

Huffle puts her hand on Alt’s shoulder and looks at him with worry.

Alt shrugs, “…I dunno… I think… all the trouble with the TRVLR might have… started there. Mag did something to it and it uh… made me and Chase think we were… from Glasúil. …mag and the King took advantage of that.”

"Hmm. He would, wouldn't he?" Crystal mutters, turning and looking out the window, something almost like guilt on their face.

I'm sorry that happened to you, JJ says.

"Yeah." Chase nods. "Take it from me, memory loss sucks. Even though I just got mine cured last night... I mean, still sucks. Uh... at least it's over now."

Alt nods, “It’s fine… it happened you know- couple months ago. …we’ll just have to try to go back to have an actual nice time… hopefully once they take care of the king.” Alt tries to smile.

White noise comes from the radio for a while. Then Anti says, "There's a dirt road branching off here. You'll want to take that."

"I see it," Chase says. "It has a gate."

"Bold of you to call that thing a gate," Jackie says. "It's two wooden posts and a single bit of metal blocking the way."

"I still don't want to hit it with the car."

"Just drive around, it's fine," Marvin says.

"Um? Might be better for someone to get out and open it?" Schneep says. "Obviously?"

Bro looks out at the gate and squints. “I mean it’s a rental so we shouldn’t hit it… I can go open it but Marvin also has a good point-“

“I can glitch out and back in-“ Alt says, stretching. He then glitches outside to try to open the gate.

It's not hard to do. There's a single rope looped over a hook on one of the posts. Alt just needs to remove it, and the van is free to sail through without any obstacle.

Alt snorts and rolls his eyes at the simplicity and goes to remove the rope.

Chase slows the van to a rolling stop, waiting for Alt to remove the rope and open the gate. Once he does, he slowly starts going forward again.

"That's fucking lame," Marvin says. "Why not do something a bit more, oh I don't know, secure?"

"There were cameras," Anti reports. "I have them on a loop while we're in view."

"Ah."

Alt glitches back into his seat and manages to hear what Anti and Marvin says. He snorts, “I thought that was too easy. Half expected some alarm to go off or- I dunno, for it to shock me for some reason.”

“Hard to pull that off with a wooden gate I think,” Bro laughs.

"I think it is a valid thing to be worried about," Schneep says. "IRIS has all sorts of technology. They say their cameras can even detect emotions by reading it on your face."

Alt shudders, “Yeah… I’ve heard about that. I think SCLERA has something similar…”

"SCLERA?" Chase repeats. "That's a fun word."

"Isn't that the white part of your eye?" Marvin asks.

"Yes, it is," Schneep says. "I will confirm that with my doctor knowledge."

Chase laughs at that, then sighs, becoming serious again. "What's with evil organizations and eye imagery?"

Bro laughs, “It’s weird huh? Guess it makes sense they’re all like- about watching people and shit-“

"I guess eye imagery is cool," Jackie says. "Jack has it as a symbol for his YouTube channel. Though I guess that's probably because of Sam--"

Right on cue, Sam flies out of Jackie's pocket, looking around at all the others.

Hello Sam! JJ says. Comfy in there?

Jackie laughs. "I think they fell asleep. Or, uh... not asleep, I don't think they sleep at all, but it must be relaxing, yknow?"

Huffle lets out a tiny shocked scream at seeing Sam and backs up. “Oooh my god! They’re- oh they’re actually real??”

“Yeah- who did you think they were talkin about?” Alt asks.

“…I just wasn’t expecting to actually see a floating eyeball in real life-“ Huffle says, flushing a bit.

Crystal also yelps a bit, then staes at Sam, wide-eyed. "That is so weird. You don't really process how weird it is when you're wr--scrying into different worlds."

Huffle nods to Crystal, “Yeah… different… seeing them for real- I-I bet they’re sweet though..!”

"They just about gave JJ and me double heart attacks when they showed up at his house," Marvin says.

Sam drops down, curling up on the headrest of the empty seat between Bro and Alt.

Alt smiles at Sam, “Hey little guy-“ Sam's iris squishes a bit, like a smile.

I do wish they could talk to us, JJ says. That would make things easier.

"That might be a bit weirder, in a way," Crystal says, giving a nervous little laugh.

“We’ve met a couple Sams that can talk! They mostly do it in our head though-“ Bro says, “oh! Except the one from the last world we were in! They typed on keyboard that they like floated around with cuz they were like- an actual alien species!! It was so cool-“

“Optels- I believe is what they were called.” Alt adds.

"Oh, really?" Crystal looks interested. "That's some Ben 10 shit right there. I, uh... I vaguely caught a glimpse of that world, too, but not for too long."

"I've managed to ask Sam a couple questions with this like... Ouija board type thing," Jackie says. "Or maybe it's more like one of those speech board things? It has letters and some basic words that they can point to. I asked them if there's a better way to talk once, and they said that they could talk to Jack when he was awake. In his head."

"Yeah, uh... a lot of Sams and Jacks have special connections," Crystal says. "In the... worlds I've seen."

"It's like that back home, too," Anti says.

“Oh yeah- I haven’t heard much about this world’s Jack,” Bro says, “Usually he’s around you guys somehow! What’s up with him?”

The mood in the car suddenly drops. "He's um... h-he's in a coma," Chase says.

Bro’s face drops, “…oh. I…I’m so sorry-“

"No, i-it's okay, you didn't know," Chase says. "I didn't even know until I remembered last night."

Sam's glow seems to dim slightly as their nerve-tail curls around them.

"It's all Anti's fault," Marvin mutters.

"I-I cannot--you are not entirely right," Schneep says. "I feel I must share the blame--"

"You were trying to save Jack, it's not your fault," Jackie assures him. "You didn't know he would hijack the coma."

Alt’s eyes widen, “What? How… how can he do that?”

Huffle looks at Crystal and makes a face of understanding. “KJSE?” she mouths to them.

Crystal's brow furrows as they try to figure out what Huffle says, then nod once they get it.

"We are not sure," Schneep says slowly. "Something about how Jack is Anti's host?"

JJ nods. Seems he got tired of possessing Jack directly and decided him being in a coma would allow him more freedom.

Alt’s eyes flash with anger, “bastard… that’s- god.”

Bro looks concerned. “That’s awful…”

"We've been working on it," Marvin says. "I've asked every magician I know for help. There has to be something." He pauses. "But... it has been a while, though. A bit over two years." He shakes his head. "Jack will be fine, though. We'll figure something out. Hell, maybe IRIS can do something."

"We are not going to IRIS for help," Schneep says firmly.

"When did I say we would? We're going to a facility of theirs. Maybe we can look around for stuff we can... borrow."

Alt grins, “that sounds like an excellent idea, Marvin. Those bastards deserve to be stolen from.”

"Heh." Marvin grins right back mischievously. "Let's see what we can find in there, then."

The dirt road winds around for a while, a couple trees popping up here and there. Schneep reaches down into his suitcase and pulls out the white IRIS coat he'd shown Alt back when they first arrived, as well as a lanyard with an ID card. "We must be getting close, yes?"

"Pretty close," Anti confirms.

Alt glitches a bit anxiously in his seat in anticipation, watching the windows.

Huffle drums her hands on her legs, “So.. it’s mostly empty right? But… probably still people there? How are we all getting in?”

"We were discussing that earlier, briefly before you arrived," Schneep says, glancing back at her. "But ah... we did not come to a full agreement."

"How many people are going inside again?" Chase asks. "It's Schneep, Marv, the two brothers, and the two gir--not-guys. So that's six people who need to be covered."

Crystal laughs. "Not-guys?"

"I panicked."

"No no, I love it, really."

“I’ve never been called a not-guy before!” Huffle laughs.

"I can take down the camera system for a while, but they'll probably get it back up again quickly," Anti says. "Your first priority should be finding a room with spare uniforms or something."

Alt nods, “Good idea.”

“Eyyy dress up time!” Bro somewhat cheers. Alt rolls his eyes with a laugh.

"How do we actually get in?" Jackie asks. "Do we just wave Schneep's ID thing in front of the door?"

"Yes, I was assuming that was the case," Schneep says.

"You'll need to find the door, first," Anti says. "Look. Up there. That's the entrance."

There is... nothing in sight. Only a weird hill with a tree growing next to it.

Bro blinks comically out. “…Anti, that’s a tree-“

Huffle bursts into giggles.

Alt rolls his eyes again. “We gotta go look for the entrance dude- c’mon.” He glitches outside of the car then starts to glitch around to look for any sign of an entrance.

Chase pulls to the side of the road and parks the car next to the hill. Jackie gets out first, then Schneep, and then Marvin and JJ get out only so that the others in the rows behind them can get out, too. They all start looking around.

It doesn't take long for some of the guys to notice the difference. Alt, Bro, and Huffle all gather around the tree. A tree that is... mostly wood, but there's a section of it that seems unusually shiny. Marvin notices as well. He reaches out and knocks on it. It does not sound like hitting a tree at all. Alt perks up then grins, going to try to see if he can open or- find some way that this tree works.

It looks like there's a small seam on the edge of the shiny area. It's barely noticable, but he could fit a fingernail into the space.

"Hey guys! We found something!" Marvin shouts at the others, who all walk over.

Alt flicks out his pocket knife and goes to wedge it into the crack and tries to pry it open.

Metal hinges creak and a panel opens up, revealing a metal alcove with a circular camera and a card reader.

"Here we go," Jackie says. "Please say the camera system is down right now."

Anti forms nearby. "Yep, I shut it down as soon as Alt started opening it."

“Oh- fast thinking dude,” Alt laughs.

"Good to hear," Schneep says, pulling on the white coat and putting the lanyard around his neck. He steps forward and holds the card up to the reader. It beeps, and there's the sound of something metal sliding open.

Alt blinks and then glitches towards the sound of metal opening.

Bro tries to hurry after him. “Alt you gotta wait for the rest of us!”

The others all quickly follow. On the other side of the hill, a door has suddenly opened up in the earth, leading into a small metal room. An elevator.

"Well, this probably won't say open forever," Jackie says, immediately stepping in. "C'mon, guys."

Huffle tries to catch up to everyone. Alt helps to pull her in with a quick glitch.

Bro nods, “Yeah! Hidden elevator- super not worrying…” he hurries in too.

"This is how IRIS tends to operate," Schneep says as he steps in. "If they do not have a compound somewhere, they have a secret location."

Crystal also hurries into the elevator, leaving Chase, JJ, and Marvin outside.

"Good luck, guys," Chase says, trying to hide his worry with an easy smile. "We'll keep the van ready."

“Thanks dude!” Bro grins at his other self, giving him a two finger salute.

“We’ll see you guys soon,” Alt nods.

JJ and Marvin wave at them as the doors close. Schneep presses a button and the elevator starts to descend. Not long after, the doors open again, and a white hallway extends before them with metal floors and ceilings. A couple other hallways branch off it, and there are normal-looking doors lining the walls.

Schneep starts down the hallway first, looking around. "Hmm. I think... think one of these first doors are a locker room."

“Awesome! Easy peasy~” Bro grins.

Alt follows close behind and Huffle hurriedly clings to his arm, a bit worried and looking around anxiously.

Jackie immediately starts trying the doors. Some are locked, but one soon opens, revealing indeed a locker room, small and with blue metal lockers lining two walls, the final wall having hangers with white coats, helmets, and what look like some sort of bulletproof vests.

There is also a man sitting on a bench nearby, hunched over a phone. He looks up in surprise. "Oh! Uh..."

Schneep quickly pushes to the front. "Ah, hello, I am showing these new employees around this facility. They are going to be added to the shift board."

Bro waves in a friendly manner. Huffle hides more behind Alt. Alt tries to keep his face neutral.

"Oh, uh, okay." The man nods slowly. "I, uh, haven't seen you guys around."

"Yes, like I said, they are new," Schneep explains.

"Right. Sorry. Uh... what are their positions? We put in some calls for some C&C here."

Alt and Bro exchange glances. “Uh I think that’s… us!” Bro says, trying to smile.

"Really?" The man stands up and leans to the side. "All of you? I mean, uh..." Crystal's face turns red. "W-well, um, yeah!"

"You shouldn't judge from appearances, dude," Jackie says. "These two are very capable too." Jackie gestures at Huffle and Crystal. "Don't be a prejudiced asshole. Just cause they're not guys--"

"No I didn't mean anything like that!" The man quickly says. "Uh--you can just--just look around the room, I'll uh--be in the security center!" He hurriedly walks past the others out into the hallway.

Huffle blinks at Jackie then laughs, “Dude… nice save!” Bro offers Jackie a high five.

Jackie high fives him with a grin. "Fun fact, guaranteed way to get people to leave quickly: make them uncomfortable. They stop thinking about others and start thinking about themselves."

“That’s a good tip, gonna remember that-“ Alt chuckles.

Schneep walks over to the wall with the hanging clothes and starts taking off helmets and vests. "Put all these on. They are the C&C uniforms. Take off any extra jackets and such, too."

Bro hurries and takes off his jacket and puts on the new one. He looks at the helmet and hums. “Never been much of a helmet guy-“

Alt tries to see if he can put the jacket on over his own.

Huffle looks at the jackets with a face. “…this is so weird-“

Crystal groans. "I don't like borrowed clothesssss."

"Well, it'd look weird if we were walking around without them," Jackie says, picking up a vest. "And sorry bout the helmets, but we gotta wear them. We have to hide our faces."

Anti manifests next to them. "Yeah, and soon. That guy went back to the security center, he's already working on restoring the camera system."

Crystal makes a face but puts a helmet on. "Ah yes, faceless. My ideal gender presentation."

Jackie stops putting on his vest to laugh.

Huffle also laughs and gets into the jacket and grabs a helmet. “I feel like it would easier for some of us to get lab coats- you know?”

Alt shudders and hurriedly puts on a helmet. “T-this should be fine.”

"It is too late, we have claimed you are C&C so we must stick to that story," Schneep says. "Now... if everyone is ready, let us go look around. I will have to pretend that I know my way around this place."

Bro flips his helmet down and salutes at Schneep. “you got it, Dr. Schneep sir!”

Alt checks himself over and nods.

Huffle puts her helmet on, wringing her fingers a bit nervously.

They head back out into the hallway.

"They really gotta label these doors," Jackie mutters.

Schneep looks around. He grabs his card from his lanyard. "Whatever we are looking for will probably be protected. Look for the doors with card readers."

"Well I-I don't see any here," Crystal says.

"Down the halls, then," Schneep says. "First left, first right, second left, or second right?"

“Let’s do… first right.” Alt says.

“Kinda weird to be looking for a TRVLR thing completely blind now…” Bro sighs.

Schneep nods and leads the way down the first hallway to the right. This area is lined with more doors, all of them with keycard sensors. He holds up his lanyard to the first one. It beeps and opens up.

Schneep pushes it open, revealing a room full of boxes. "This is storage, I think."

“So probably not here… unless they keep plans with storage,” Alt says.

"Probably," Schneep says, closing the door.

Unfortunately, all the other doors in this hallway appear to be storage as well. But the one at the end is different, being filled with filing cabinets instead of boxes.

"Hmm? A possibility?" Jackie says.

"I think so," Schneep agrees. "Let's search." He goes towards the nearest filing cabinet and starts examining it.

"Do they have like... a system or something?" Crystal asks.

"Yes, but it is not all that intuitive, if you ask me," Schneep says. He rolls his eyes. "Why not keep things alphabetical?"

Huffle snorts, “What other system is there??” She grumbles as she starts to look. Alt glitches around to try to see what looks promising. Bro goes into the first cabinet he can find, taking out the files to squint at the names.

After a bit of searching, Huffle and Jackie find themselves looking at the same cabinet. Jackie opens up a drawer and something immediately pops out to Huffle. In the folder labelled "Prototypes", a paper sticks out, and on the corner she can see a series of letters. T...R...V...L...

Huffle gasps loudly and grabs the file, holding it high above her head. “I FOUND IT!!”

Alt perks up then glitches over, trying to get a look, “You did??”

"Whoa, hey, let us see!" Jackie says, holding out his hand.

"What is in this? Prototypes?" Schneep says, looking at the file. "Oh! That would make sense, they are only starting to work on it now."

Alt blinks then frowns, “…so this might not even work?”

“Well… maybe this is an older file…?” Huffle says sheepishly.

"Here, hand it to me," Schneep says, holding his hand out. Huffle hands it to Henrik. He flips through the file and pulls out the TRVLR blueprints. He looks them over. "No, it is an up to date file," he says, and frowns. "Hmm." Then his eyes light up. "Aha! There is a note here. They are beginning the production of the first prototype! Somewhere in this very compound. We need to find a room with many machines.

“Oh sick! That’s probably as close as we’re gonna get huh?” Bro says.

Alt’s eyes light up as he nods and starts to head out the door. “Let's start looking then!”

"Alright, let's go then!" Jackie whoops and follows Alt out of the room. "Where do we look next?"

“Let’s try the next hallway over,” Alt says, walking fast down the hall. Bro and Huffle try to catch up- Huffle tries to make sure the place isn’t too messy.

Crystal also makes sure the room is as it was when they came in and then hurries after the rest of the group.

The next hallway over is a dud, full of more storage. "How many fucking rooms do they need?" Jackie mutters as they search. So they head to the next hallway. This one has no doors, except for a set of double doors on one wall.

"That looks important," Crystal says.

Alt nods, “Sure does… Hen- can you see if you can get in?” Bro tries to keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary.

Schneep nods. He walks over and tries to open it up with his keycard... but nothing. He frowns. "I suppose I do not have permissions for this. That means that it is quite important. Most definitely where we are supposed to go."

Alt frowns, “I can try to glitch inside… but that might give us away-“

“Do you know any invisibility spells, Alt?” Huffle asks.

“…I haven’t been any good at them- my magic’s kinda… flashy.”

"Go on," Anti's voice says from Alt's phone. "I'm still in the camera system, there's no one inside. I'll cause another blip as you glitch."

Alt blinks then grins and nods, quickly glitching inside.

The inside of the room looks a bit like a phone manufacturing line. There's a conveyor belt stretching the length of the room, lined with robotic arms. There's also a button on the inside of the door to unlock it from this side.

Alt blinks in surprise at the interior, marveling at the robotic arms. Then he hurries back to the door to unlock it for the others. They all rush in.

"Whoa!" Jackie blinks. "Look at this place! It's kind of cool... and also a bit creepy." He glances around. "Yep, empty. Good to know."

Schneep hurries to the end of the conveyor belt line. There's a kiosk with a computer screen there and he starts looking it over. "Hmm. Alright, I think I am understanding this. There is a blue platform right here." He points at a flat rectangular tray next to the kiosk. "Put your TRVLR pieces there." He takes out the blueprints and puts them on a similar tray with a camera-like device over it, making sure that they're straightened out.

Alt looks a bit confused but he does what Henrik asks, opening up his jacket to get to the TRVLR pieces in his hoodie pocket. He opens up the bag and dumps out the contents onto the tray.

“Ohhh! Is it like an automated system?” Huffle asks, peeking curiously behind Schneep.

"Yes, exactly." Schneep nods. "Automated. Make sure all the parts are lined out, no overlapping. That will make it faster."

Alt nods and starts to do that, “That’s handy… I thought I was gonna have to figure out how to do it myself,” he chuckles. Once he’s done he steps back, “…I really hope this works..”

"I hope so as well," Schneep says. He types in something to the computer. The conveyor belt whirls to life, the robotic arms moving. The blue tray starts going down the conveyor belt, passing through several walls of light that scan the parts. The arms whirl almost too fast to keep track of.

"Oooo." Jackie watches. "That does look cool."

Bro watches with wide eyes, “oooooh is right look at how cool that is!”

Alt glitches a bit in place, a bit anxious as he watches the machine work.

"I believe this place is a sort of factory for IRIS," Schneep says. "It assembles a lot of their devices. If you will look around." He gestures vaguely at the room. There are more machines pushed up against the walls. "Those are no doubt for other things of theirs."

Jackie frowns. "Do you think we should like... sabotage these or something, then?"

Huffle hums and starts to look around, “Yeah- what if they’re making like… a death Ray or something-“

“I do enjoy smashing things-“ Bro laughs. “Anything to get these fuckers to you know- stop kidnapping people and shit.”

Schneep frowns. "That would not be very subtle, would it?"

"Oh come on, Schneep, Huffle is right!" Jackie says. "What if they're making a death ray?"

"IRIS does plenty bad things, but I don't think that would be in their list. They are all about containing things... and possibly using them." Schneep shakes his head. "But if you all want to try, go on ahead."

“I’m sure we can destroy them subtly! …somehow- I might have some scissors in my backpack-“ Huffle says, digging through her bag. Her and Bro start to look around at what kind of machines they have around.

"I'd help you guys, but I don't think I'd be able to do much," Crystal says. "Uh... try to be quiet, though."

"Don't worry about us, dude," Jackie says, grinning at them. "We'll be careful."

The machines are all very strange, mostly unrecognizable. There's something that's like a 3D printer. Something that looks like a microwave but a bit bigger--and which has some tape with the words "NO FOOD" written on it in black marker. Something that looks like a massive scale but with robotic arms attached. There are a lot of kiosks with computer screens around, no doubt to control the devices just like the one Schneep used to start the conveyor belt.

Bro whistles, “Damn- these are all so weird…”

“Yeah-“ Huffle agrees. She then hums and looks around the side of one of the kiosks. “Hey- if one of you two could get a panel off- I could snip the wires so it won’t work!” She grins, clipping some scissors in her hand.

"Oh! Great idea!" Jackie grins. "Okay, uh... let's look at these." He walks over to the kiosk Huffle is looking at and crouches down. "Okay, here's this." He reaches out, tracing the seams of a panel, held in by tiny, tiny screws. "Uhhhh... this is really well-made. Kind of hard to get a grip." He pauses. "Alt, weird question. Do you think you could like... break mechanical stuff? I know he can't, but you're slightly different. If you could just get one panel off."

Alt blinks and tears himself away from watching the machine. He looks conflicted then sighs and glitches over. “if you want me to- I could just short out all these things.”

“Aw- but that’s not as fun!” Bro says.

"Yeah let us help!" Jackie says. "Besides, if something big happens, you want to save your power, right? That's why I asked if you could just get one panel off on these kiosks."

Alt makes a face and then sighs and puts his hand on the panel. Green blue magic surround the screws and quickly loosen them and they pop out. “there.”

“Thanks Alt!” Huffle says.

Alt looks at the other kiosks, “…you wanna take these all down right?” He then glitches to the next one and starts the process for that one too- then the next one- loosening as many panels as he can.

"Yep!" Jackie grins. "Thanks Alt! You're the bestest!" He heads over to the second kiosk and looks inside. There's a mess of wires and computer parts. The same with the first one that Huffle is by.

"Alright. If we do enough damage in here they should shut down. And then you can't control them." Jackie reaches inside, and a ring of silvery green light surrounds his hands, displacing all the computer parts as it appears with a crunch. "Ohhh. That sound is satisfying."

Huffle giggles and goes to grab some wires and just starts snipping. Bro goes to another one Alt opened and starts to rip out the wires like he’s plucking weeds.

Even Crystal gets in on it, hesitantly reaching in and pulling at stuff until it loosens. By the time the conveyor belt has finished its work, all the machines in the room have been sabotaged.

Schneep walks over to the end of the conveyor and gently picks up the finished project. "Is this your TRVLR?" he asks, holding it up to Bro and Alt. It looks almost exactly the same as it did before. The only difference is a crack going horizontally across its screen, dividing it in half.

Alt looks back and his eyes light up as he glitches over and looks the TRVLR over. He glitches in excitement, “Yes!” He quickly tries to power it on. Bro hurries over to watch.

The screen lights up immediately, responding in an instant. The three bubbles on the screen appear, looking the same as ever. The one with the universe list, the one to access settings, and the one to perform a jump. In the corner of the screen is the universe code U-0803018CC, the exact one that Anti guessed they arrived in earlier. When Alt checks the universe list, he finds everything the same as he left it, with his favorite universes marked and everything.

"Huh." Crystal walks over, looking at it. "So... if it works, you could go home, now?"

Alt looks so relieved he feels pinpricks of tears in his eyes. “y-yeah… yeah we can…! And we can- we can see the others! E-everything’s still here…”

Bro jumps up and cheers, “Let’s GOOO!! We did it!!”

Huffle smiles and walks over too, “I’m so glad that worked you guys!”

Schneep grins a little. "Congratulations. Now. Let us get out of here quickly. Before that man in the security center starts to wonder what we are doing running machinery in the assembly room."

Alt nods and puts the TRVLR away. “Right- let’s go meet the others.”

#SBTCV #swap beyond the crystalverse #SBTCV resurgence #resurgence #this part is fun!#very meta with c!cry and c!huffle reacting to learning what the boys have been up to #c!huffle is so worried and confused on why her creations are doing stuff she never wrote them doing!#and then!! the TRVLR is fixed! surely nothing will go wrong! :D #i think theres 2 parts left!! woah!!

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