Chapter Text
Start of Act 2
Time Spirals Even Deeper
V
John Egbert looked around his room, nervous. The Trolls had disappeared after he had installed SuBurb and he wasn't sure what was going on. But everything looked normal despite the missing trolls. What had happened to them? His computer pinged at him and he turned towards it. It was Rose.
[tentacleTherapist] began pestering [ectoBiologist]
TT: Did your trolls just vanish?
TT: Because mine did and I find it very strange that they would just vanish like that.
EB: yeah they did.
EB: I just installed the game and then poof they were gone
TT: I am concerned what it could mean....
TT: But I am getting ready to install your Totem Lathe.
EB: my what?
TT: Totem Lathe. Could you move towards your north facing wall?
TT: I need to make room.
John turned towards the wall that she was talking about and moved towards it. To his surprise he saw an arrow come down and move the walls out. His room was suddenly twice as large. Then a strange device was dropped down against the wall. It was a strange little machine that looked like it belonged in a factory. There were a long rectangular form that moved towards the middle of its form and then a little down with a needle attached to the end. There were tow clamps attached to the bottom, most likely for holding things in place. There was also a rectangular hole for putting something in.
TT: There. You will need that to enter the Medium and Alchimize anything you need.
TT: Clothes, weapons, anything really.
EB: so we won't be unprepared?
TT: That is what I believe its for. But anyway, I've been reading over a walkthrough that I apparently wrote in the prescratched universe.
TT: Interesting read really, and it is clearly in my style of writing when I was thirteen.
EB: purple prose?
TT: Yes, very much so. I would like to believe I got better.
EB: clearly you have gotten better.
TT: Thank you.
TT: But as I said, I've been reading through my walk through and I have a good idea of what we need to do.
TT: I'm going to deploy the other freebies. One on your roof and the other in your living room.
EB: don't you think my father would be upset?
TT: No, I don't think so.
TT: Stand back and let me get to work.
John took a step back from his computer and let Rose deploy what ever she wanted to. The first thing he noticed her deploying was something that looked like a pad. It went on his balcony. He wasn't sure what the other thing was because she put it downstairs.
While she was busy doing that he grabbed his PDA and got on Pesterchum there. Much better to contact Rose like that encase he wasn't close to his computer.
TT: John. Go downstairs to your living room. You need to prototype your Kernel.
EB: alright, but I have no idea what your talking about.
TT: Its alright. Just get a move on!
EB: aye aye!
John grabbed his sledgehammer (something that Vriska convinced him to keep a hold of for a weapon which he could see how useful it could be in battle) and headed his way downstairs. He found some kind of pad like thing sitting there with a tube coming out of the top of it. There was his Dad's safe sitting in the air above it and when it hit, a strange ball came out, flashing blue and white.
EB: rose is that a kernel?
TT: Yes. Do you see the timer?
EB: yeah, what does it mean?
TT: That is the time you have left before a meteor crashes onto your house and you die.
EB: O.O
TT: Calm down, I have everything well in hand.
TT: You see, all you need to do is prototype your kernel with something.
EB: what?
TT: Hm...
TT: In the last play through you used a Harlequin and your Nanna's ashes.
TT: Why don't we do the same thing again?
EB: would my nanna come back to life?
TT: In a way yes. She will have all of her memories of the time before she died and all the knowledge of the game.
TT: But she won't tell you everything, and will say more riddles then anything.
TT: But who would want to miss out on talking with a lost love one?
EB: it makes a lot of sense.
EB: alright I'll do that.
John walked over to the stuff Harlequin that his dad kept on the couch and dumped it into the kernel. He hadn't really liked the idea of it but he couldn't think of anything better. It was his dad's interest more then his own. The kernel took the thing in and then in a flash of light it changed forms. It was now in the form of a Harlequin with a strange ghostly tail. Next were his grandmother's ashes.
TT: We can wait for the next prototyping for when you enter the medium.
TT: It was more important that we did the first one.
EB: what would have happened if we didn't prototype the first time?
TT: We would be unable to win our session.
TT: It would be the worse thing that we could ever do.
EB: good thing we did then
TT: Yes it was. Now we need to make our item.
TT: There should be a pre-punched card in your deck.
EB: found it
TT: Take it back to the Totem Lathe.
EB: alright
He headed back upstairs, with the kernal following after him. He took the punch card, and listening to Rose's careful instruction, put the card inside the machine and pushed the right button. The machine whirled to life, and created a totem out blue crystal. Rose told him to take it to the pad out on the balcony and when he did it created an apple. He stared at it in wonder, and then looked up into the sky.
That was when he saw it. There was some great ball of fire coming straight for his house. He started at it in wonder for a few seconds before he ran back to the house. He had to destroy the apple.
EB: how am I suppose to destroy the apple
EB: rose?
[tentacleTherapist] has stopped pestering [ectoBiologist]
EB: crap
He put the apple on his magic chest (something left over from his childhood) and aimed the hammer right over it. He pulled the hammer over his head and swung down. The crystal apple shattered with a sharp sound and he grinned for a moment before the pain over whelmed him and he passed out.
-------
“WHAT THE FUCK ARE WE DOING BACK HERE?”
Karkat was pissed beyond words. He only managed to talk because he need something to release his rage. He hadn't known that when he activated the game they would end up back on the asteroid and stuck. He was glad to see though that they were all still alive and everyone was in one piece. He didn't want to go back to the way they were before. He crossed his arms and looked around at everyone.
“I have no idea,” Terezi said, shaking her head. “Our plan was very clear but it seems the game is going to make it hard for us.”
Vriska looked at Terezi and shook her head, before slipping away and headed back to her old room. At least he guessed from the direction she went. He couldn't have that. He couldn't have their team slipping apart already. But he would give her some space until they figured out a plan of attack for this new problem.
“Excuse me.”
They all turned towards the sound, weapons drawn out of their strifedecks and ready to attack. They were surprised to see though it wasn't Jack Noir like they expected. Instead it was a white wolf with long white wings and a sword in her gut. PM. Their weapons were all returned to their decks and Karkat moved forward.
“Hey PM, funny seeing you here.”
“I just wanted to see if you all survived . I can't stay long. I'm still trying to track down Jack and bring him to justice. Are the kids...”
“Yes,” Terezi said, “they are all playing the game. But we were teleported back here for some reason.”
“Hm.” The wolf looked thoughtful for a moment before she nodded. “Make your plans. Jack is on the move again.”
She vanished in a green light, and Karkat leaned against the wall and slid down it until he was in a sitting position. His head went into his hands as he took deep breaths, trying to calm his rage down. He couldn't think of anything to do, besides contact them. Karkat mumbled under his breath and moved towards the computers. “Sollux, are any of the computers still working?”
Sollux walked over to his keyboard and flipped it on. After typing in a few commands he nodded. “Everything seems to be working. Everything is like we left it pretty much.”
Karkat walked over to his computer and turned it on. Once it booted up, he opened Trollian and checked the timeline. Everything looked normal. He checked the current time on John's timeline and saw him passed out.
“Vriska! Did you put John to fucking sleep?”
There was the sound of clanging in the background and Vriska's voice answered him. “No! I'm no where near a computer to see him! I need see a person before I can try and control them. Maybe he passed out on his own. You know, after he entered the game!”
Karkat knew that entree into the game could be dramatic and painful for humans. Trolls were built form sturdier stuff. So what if he had thrown up after entering? It wasn't important.
He checked the other viewing windows. Rose was trying to escape her burning house, clutching her laptop to her chest. Dave was tying on his computer, and Jade was looking around her house. She looked scared, verging on the edge of panic before running towards her computer. She started to type on it and Karkat noticed she was talking to Dave. It seemed to calm her down a little.
“Here is the plan everyone.” Karkat turned towards the rest of the Trolls that were in the room. He was pretty sure Vriska could hear him from the volume of his voice. “We are going to guid the humans from here until we know how to get back to them. Once we do, we will help them complete the game like our original plan.”
Terezi walked over and put a hand on his shoulder. “I know that your worried but everything will be alright.”
“I hope your right. I hope your fucking right.”
------
Rose felt the heat of the flames through the wall. Grabbing her laptop and lamenting the loss of signal, she moved out of her bedroom. She knew John was trying to contact her. She just hoped that he could do without her for a little while. He was a strong young man and she was certain he could do well enough on his own.
She moved from her bed room and into the hallway. Tucking her laptop into her fetch mobus she made her way down the hallway. She hoped that her Tree Mobus didn't give her too much trouble this time around. She had considered, on the advice of Kanaya, investing in a new mobus but couldn't find one that fit her taste. Instead she decided to stick with the one she had and hope that maybe she ran across a new one as the game went on.
She went down the stairs, passing by the statues of wise wizards and eldritch abominations that she had created herself. There was tentacle princess, still sitting on the couch as it had been for many more years then she cared to remember. The fire hadn't reach the house just yet, but she knew it was close. If it reached her kitchen before she got out, she could die from the resulting explosion of fire reaching massive amounts of alcohol.
She wished her mother would drink less.
Rose moved through the kitchen and looked around. Her mother was not here, where could she be? Placing a hand on her lip, she shook her head. No time to worry about that right now. Rose knew her mother could take care of herself for a little while. She looked around at the carefully arrianged bottles of booze and shook her head. Sometimes she wondered if her mother remembered how much she drank.
It didn't matter. Rose made her way out of the back door and felt the heat hit her face. Oh wow, the flames were growing close. She made her way down the walkway that led to the back yard. She would make her way to the shed and hide out there. The generator should be working, and hopefully she would be able to pick up a proper signal there. She moved down the walk way and across the yard.
The shed was a simple building made out of metal, used mainly to store the riding lawn mower and what ever other gardening equipment that her mother didn't feel like using. Two years back Rose remembered her mother trying to start a rose garden but giving up after a while. Rose had taken over since then, and her flowers bloomed beautifully. Well, they didn't at the moment. It has been far too dry for flowers to bloom. Now they were no doubt getting consumed by the flames.
She opened the shed, and checked the generator. It had plenty of fuel, so she turned it on. It rumbled loudly for a moment before quieting a little. Rose plugged her laptop up to the extention cord and sat down on the ground. There was a bench on the ground covered in old news paper. She pushed the pile to the ground and placed her laptop on the desk instead. Once her laptop booted up she tried to find a new signal to connect to the internet.
She found an unsecured connection with good strength and connected to it. Once she got back on, John was bugging her again.
[ectoBiologist] started pestering [tentacleTherapist]
EB: alright
EB: how am I suppose to destroy the apple
EB: rose?
EB: crap
[ectoBiologist] stopped pestering [tentacleTherapist]
Rose saw John on her monitor as soon as she rebooted up Suburb. He was sitting up and rubbing his head, looking around his room. He had just entered the game and was a little disoriented it appeared. She got on pesterchum and tried to see if he was alright.
[tentacleTherapist] started pestering [ectoBiologist]
TT: John. You are now in the Medium.
TT: John?
TT: Answer me. I know you are awake. Answer me.
------
Meanwhile, years in the the future (but not many), a Vagabond wonders the vast desert of his home. He had done this all before. He remembered this all. It felt like a dream, but he knew it wasn't. It had happened, but he barely remembered everything that happened. But what he did remember was that lovely white woman, and how she helped him after the Demon came back for him.
He returned to his station, his home in the desert, and checked the monitors. To his surprise, the system responded. It had been a long time since he had been able to check on John. He remembered he died, stabbed in the chest by the demon. He was glad he came back.
His hands went over the keyboard and with a soft smile, he typed, '=> John, welcome back.'