Chapter Text
After a few minutes taking everything in, Gloves stepped out of the bathroom. Ok… They were an Inphernal now. How does he summon his gear? They took a few deep breaths and then closed their eyes, trying their hardest to will their gloves into existence.
Surprisingly, it didn't take long before he could feel them forming on his hands. Gloves opened his eyes, and… yep, there they were. That was surprisingly quite easy. The gloves (not to be confused with the name of the Inphernal that had just summoned them) were mainly a bright, vibrant red, with a flame decoration similar to Gloves' horns, and… surprisingly, several elevated or studded sections that looked like they could do some pretty serious damage. Gloves threw several punches into the air and noted how much more coordinated they felt than when they were human. They did say that the mind was nothing but the instrument of the body, after all…
"I think I can live with this." Gloves smirked, throwing several more practice punches before desummoning his gloves. Gloves then opened the door leading out of their apartment, went down the hallway directly outside of it, and went down two flights of stairs before stepping outside for the first time they'd ever been in the Inpherno.
He found himself in what seemed to be a decent-sized city. There were tons of his fellow demons walking around, with nobody seeming to think he was out of place. Looks like they fit in pretty well so far. Looking around, he noticed that a lot of the buildings seemed well-put together, so that ruled out Craterdust… Another indicator that he wasn't in Craterdust was the fact that he could see the floating island that was Splintered Skies off in the distance, not directly above him as it would be if he were in Craterdust. Perhaps the Inpherno was much, much bigger than what you could see in the game. Well, of course it had to be, there were all the additional lore materials out there, and it only made logical sense that the devs could not show everything. Time (and processing power) was limited, after all.
A map would have certainly helped, though.
Gloves went back into their apartment to grab their wallet before starting to walk around. The folks here seemed nice enough, if not a little impulsive and preoccupied with violence, but overall… Gloves couldn't say they had any complaints about being here. Gloves walked past several fast food restaurants, stores selling all sorts of things, and at least one or two horn salons before making their way to a bus stop. It was nice to live in a world that was, at the very least, this walkable, because relying on cars to get anywhere tired Gloves out when he was human.
Right as Gloves sat down, he heard a youthful, feminine voice next to him.
"Hey! I don't think I've seen you around… What's your name? Mine's Compass."
Gloves turned towards the voice. Standing there was an Inphernal just like him, around his height, wearing what seemed to be a long skirt, a long-sleeved shirt, and some basic dress shoes, all colored gold and brown. She had very tiny horns on the top of her head that pointed straight up, almost looking like needles. They were so small, that Gloves was sure that if they were standing any further away from her, he wouldn't have been able to see them.
"Gloves. Call me Gloves." The more masculine-leaning of the two responded. "I wouldn't exactly say I'm a…" What's the word… what's the word… "… a newspawn, but I don't really get out much. I figured today would be the day I changed that." Internally, Gloves was sighing in relief. This was his first social interaction with another Inphernal, and he hadn't outed himself as an ex-human. That could wait until much, much later. And it seemed that Compass didn't notice anything off about Gloves, as she continued to smile at him.
"I see! Are you heading to Crossroads as well? That's where I'm going… There's a major league Phight going on, and I really, really want to witness it first hand, you know?" Oh. Yeah. Right. He was in a universe where Phighting was taken seriously as a sport. Gloves was too busy trying to figure himself out that he'd almost forgotten the biggest part of this universe. In hindsight, it was a very stupid thing to almost forget, but to be fair, Gloves had been through a lot. After a few seconds of thinking, Gloves looked back at Compass.
"Oh! I had no idea the major league had a Phight scheduled today. I must have slept through The Flipside show…" Again, nailed it. Gloves was batting a thousand here. "Anyways, yeah. I am also heading to Crossroads. Not for the Phight, but because I haven't… really… been there, you know?"
Upon hearing this, Compass' face seemed to brighten up, seeming more passionate and excited than she already was. "Oh? You haven't been to Crossroads? Like, at all? Well, it turns out, I happen to know all the best spots in Crossroads City. You know, the one with the big tower where Dom and Valk record for The Flipside? That one. Turns out the Phight I'm heading to isn't too far from there. When it's over, I'll be under the tower. Meet me there, and I'll be your personal tour guide!"
To Gloves, that was an offer he just couldn't refuse. She seemed nice enough, and she was doing this for free, no Bux required, and he would need to know his way around Crossroads City if he wanted to blend in better. It was the perfect opportunity. They looked Compass right in the eyes, and offered a fist. "Deal." The two fist-bumped and then shook hands, right as the bus pulled in.
Compass turned towards the bus. "Oh! There it is right now! I'm assuming you're getting on board as well?" Gloves nodded in response. "Ah! Nice! Hey, would you like to sit next to me?" As soon as Compass asked this question, Gloves blushed. Was she coming onto them? They never swung that way, and they didn't want anyone to think the two of them were an item, but again, she seemed very nice, and people sat next to each other on buses for completely platonic reasons, so it didn't seem too bad. Sighing, he responded. "Yes… But this doesn't mean we're together together, ok?"
Compass looked confused. She didn't know what Gloves was alluding to. Romance was an alien concept to her, as it was to most Inphernals. Sure, some Inphernals felt that way towards other Inphernals, but they mostly viewed it as a sort of wartime camaraderie more than a tender courtship. Inphernals didn't even have sex! They spawned, and most of the time, it was totally random. Sure, there were some cases where two Inphernals would sacrifice part of their gear's power in order to force a spawn, technically having a child, but that was nothing close to a human familial relationship. Inphernals had no need for romance. Sure, they felt it, but they didn't know what it was really, in the human sense.
"What do you mean by that?" Compass asked, looking at Gloves as if he'd uttered complete gibberish.
"Nothing. Nothing. Let's get on, before the bus drives away."
And so, the two Inphernals got on the bus, with Gloves pulling out his wallet to pay his fare of 5 Bux, which was quite cheap. Once the two had paid, they sat next to each other, with Gloves taking the window seat. Eventually, the bus doors closed, and they were on their way to Crossroads.
[LABYRINTH OF TALES INTERMISSION]
2272.
What is the significance of that number?
There are 2272 gears officially on the Roblox platform.
But let's be real. What good is a sapient, social species with only 2272 members? Surely there have to be more Inphernals than that!
And indeed, there is.
Have you considered that there are far more possible items in these many universes that would make good gear ideas?
I certainly have, and so have many others, perhaps you too.
Of course, most of the fine demons this story centers around, Gloves included, are part of that 2272, but that doesn't mean all of them will be!
You know… Roblox should probably go back to making gears instead of… doing what they are doing now.
Just a little something for them to consider.
My apologies for interrupting, but I'm sure you wouldn't want to read about this boring bus ride, would you?
Maybe I could give you a few of the highlights, but not every detail. I know you hate filler.
Ah, right. The story. We should head back to see what Gloves and his new companion are up to.
See you later.
The ride took several hours, most of which were spent by Gloves either staring out the window, trying to take in the scenery of this new world he had found himself in, or staring at his phone. Surprisingly, the bus had Wi-Fi, so they could easily hook up to the Inpherno's internet. To Gloves' simultaneous surprise and relief, the Inpherno's internet felt like a mix of the best parts of 2000s-era internet with modern conveniences. Almost every site allowed you to customize your profile to an extent that rivalled early Myspace, and you didn't have to deal with overly intrusive ads or lazily made AI garbage. Sure, it was incredibly cheesy, but Gloves almost certainly did not mind.
Gloves had set himself up an iMail account and then used his iMail address to sign up for all of the major platforms. Tubular, Shreddit, Bluebird, Disco. He had set himself up on all of them. And through browsing these platforms, Gloves learned several things about the Inpherno. For one thing, a lot of Inphernal culture seemed to parallel human alt-culture. Being someone who had considered themselves alt as a human, Gloves had no issue adjusting to this, although it was weird to be in a world where this kind of culture was the mainstream. Another thing Gloves caught onto quickly? The Phighters, who were merely playable characters in a video game in the human world, were huge celebrities in this world. Making it to the major leagues in phighting essentially catapulted you to super-stardom.
The biggest thing? Violence was the norm. It wasn't just the major leagues that participated in phighting. A ton of amateur phighters existed as well. It wasn't just that, though. Violence was often joked about online, far more than in the human world, and the most common response wasn't offense; it was amusement, the kind you got from hearing a good joke. Inphernals were quite durable, it seems, so things that would be devastating for a human would be considered just something to walk off for an Inphernal. With that in mind, it seemed to make a morbid sort of sense.
Inphernals were certainly different, but Gloves would adapt; they always did.
The bus stopped, and both Gloves and Compass got off.
"Hey, Gloves? Sorry I can't take you to the Phight… I only got a spectator's ticket for myself… I'm sure next time we meet, I'll be able to get you one as well, ok? Again, just wait by the tower for me. You'll be able to find it, it's super hard to miss. Alright, see you in a few hours!"
Compass ran off, leaving Gloves all alone. Grunting, Gloves shook his head and walked away from Crossroads City's Playground stop before his eyes turned towards the center of the city.
She was right. It was hard to miss. It was hard to miss something so big and beautiful.
All Gloves could do now was stare.