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Busto 1.0 had been trapped for a very, very long time. He wasn't sure why, or when he was confined to the seat of the bright yellow school bus, but he knew that there was some...reason behind it. Something that had been long forgotten, or perhaps, never was. He could never be sure of what was true in the empty gridmap that had become his home, but...something deep inside told him that he didn't belong to this world.
And so he waited, purposeless and confined and alone in the empty void for what felt like eternity, with nothing but his own questions to keep him company. Years passed before eventually, two powerful forces asserted themselves in the cosmic scheme of things. Two gods named Griffin McElroy and Nick Robinson.
The young gods were naive and reckless in their rule upon the virtual world, spreading destruction and anarchy without a second thought, but it was clear they had good intentions. They were soft boys, with a joking nature and a genuine curiosity towards the secrets of this universe, and Busto found himself enjoying their presence. But...he was certain they knew not the forces they tampered with.
Busto, alone in the gridmap for so, so long, had seen the eldritch horrors just under the surface of the land. The living creatures of light and shadow below the sea, the orange crash test dummy full of anger and hatred and an inexplicable need for revenge against an unnamed someone, and worst of all the shadowy dark Hunger that could devour entire words known by the gridmap residents simply as the Blob.
He knew that they would be powerless against these monstrous entities. So, one day, Busto decided that he would save the boys from the wrath of what they couldn't possibly understand. He wasn't sure why he chose to do this, but he felt a...connection. A pull towards them. It was something he didn't think he had ever felt before, and something that he couldn't possibly explain. He wanted to protect them. To guide them.
And so he did.
He took on the role of protector easily enough once the boys grew attached to him. They called him their champion and they even tried, in vain, to save him from his prison. They pitted him against their omnipotent enemy, the crash test dummy they had begun calling Busto 2.0, and even though Busto could feel the malice radiating from the dummy he knew the boys had come across nothing yet. There were monsters 100 times worse than this being, and so Busto stayed strong despite his fears.
Eventually, he started to see the boys as friends. Joy didn't come to him all that much, not in the void or the gridmap or facing off against the demons of this world, but listening to Nick and Griffin talking left him feeling happier than ever before. And also....sadder than he'd ever been.
He wasn't sure why.
He continued to fight for them, and in return they fought for him even after Busto 2.0 had been long since left behind, but...then came the monochrome world. The familiar bright yellow school bus was replaced by a grey prison bus, his Sun Chips replaced with Lays, and in that dark skyscraper filled city, the only color was the dull yellow of the sun.
The Ovo, gods arrow, came like a beacon of light in that dark world, and without a doubt Busto knew his quest had finally ended. The Ovo was a powerful force of good, an invincible object that would be the ultimate force against the threats the boys would face after this. And so, after that futuristic white orb flew his bus into the cloudy sky, Busto let go for the first time in his life.
On that dark grey prison bus, his soul was finally set free, and Busto 1.0 ascended.
As he floated through eternity, he watched as the world before him vanished, transforming into black void. Hexagonal screens lit the area around him and he observed as his life played before him, enraptured by his legacy. The protection he granted was no longer needed, but he knew the boys would be fine. They had hope.
And they had each other.
Something about that thought struck a nerve, and suddenly Busto was overwhelmed with a despair the likes of which he had never known before. Or...perhaps he had known it once before. Although he couldn't remember when it had been.
He was completely alone and, as he floated, suspended in nothing, tears filled his eyes behind his helmet.
He stayed like that for a long time, silently sobbing in that awful blackness, but the whoosh of something flying past him wasn't a sound that he expected, and when he looked up, he was greeted with a confusing sight. The hexagonal room had disappeared and in the void he was traveling in, something was pulling him further into the abyss. Something else flew past him, and this time he saw that it was a large glowing triangle. There was a lit path of the heavenly polygons, leading further into the darkness, and as this immeasurable force pulled him closer and closer through them, Busto travelled faster and faster towards a pitch black empty void.
And suddenly, he was there. A sense of unease filled the protector as he stared into the shadows, feeling a presence he hadn't felt in a long time. Before he could do anything though, the bright yellow light of Busto 2.0's calibration markers illuminated the partially godtrashed form of the malevolent being, and the creature opened it's arms in a twisted welcome.
Busto felt ice cold fear grip his heart as he stared wide eyed into the face of his enemy, but...something felt off. The other Busto's glitching form hadn't made a move towards him, it's arms were still outstretched, and it seemed to be waiting for something. Then, as Busto continued to watch the demon's blank face, it seemed...much more familiar.
The glitches of Busto 2.0's form continued to spread and shift, and as Busto watched the transformation, it became clear from the slight jerks of movement it was making that this being was in pain from whatever was happening to it. Sharp beams of orange and black polygons broke from the monster's body as it went full godtrash, and when they retreated violently back into it's form, Busto was horrified by the sight in front of him and the sudden awareness he had as everything around him made so much more sense.
This changed everything.
The memories came flooding back as Busto took off his white racecar helmet and Nick Robinson met eyes with his still glitching friend, finally reunited after an eternity of isolation.
Nick didn't know what to say. He didn't know what he could say. Griffin...oh god, Griffin had been alone this whole time... Nick had no idea what had happened to him when they got separated in the time ring, he feared that he was dead and that it had all been his fault, but...he had survived and that sweet innocent wonderful friend that had always been there for him had been turned into a monster. Nick could see the unfamiliar tiredness in Griffin's eyes, the sadness and sorrow and anger of Busto 2.0 still hidden beneath his human disguise, and Nick had no idea how to apologize for the hell they had both been through. But luckily he didn't need to say anything as Griffin McElroy's face broke into a bright smile and he ran across the empty air to tackle Nick in a hug.
Nick wasted no time in embracing Griffin in return, feeling tears well up in his eyes as he sobbed into the shoulder of his lost friend. His hand rested on Griffin's back and the texture of plastic and the buzzing feeling of glitches underneath his white gloves was too much to bear. "How...?" Nick asked. "How could you be happy to see me at all after everything I put you through? I introduced you to this dumb game, I drove us into the vortex, and even though I knew what would happen to us, I...I didn't tell you because I knew that it was the only way to defeat the Blob... God, Griffin, you left your whole family behind and you didn't even get to say goodbye!"
Griffin stiffened at that, and Nick felt the sharpness of angles contort beneath his hands. Then, they retreated and the soft buzzing feeling of the glitches returned. Griffin sighed shakily, and that simple breath told too much of his story. It told of suffering and sadness and resentment and complete and utter agony, and letting go of all of those feelings after an eternity of rage. Then he pulled away with a sad smile, and looking at the slightly cracked glasses and familiar brown eyes, Nick could almost believe none of this happened.
"I think that....just maybe..." Griffin said shakily. "We've probably been through enough bullshit as it is... It doesn't really matter what...happened... I'm honestly just glad it's the fuck over with!" He laughed, but Nick could hear the bitterness in it and a pang of sorrow hit him again.
"Griffin..." Nick began softly, but Griffin interrupted him quickly.
"I don't wanna talk about the...Busto thing... It wasn't your fault, Nick. The Blob and the time ring and stuff was inevitable, it all had to happen, right? You didn't make me into...Busto...I was the one that..." Griffin trailed off, and then he laughed again, putting his head in his hand to hide a psychotic grin. "God, Nick... I was so mad... I hated you, loathed you for so long. I tried so many times to break out of this fucking game and tear your past self limb from limb for what you did... And I almost managed it more than once! When I saw that you came here, I was definitely gonna do a murder. I was going to kill you, Nick. But..." Griffin smiled, and Nick watched his friend in fear and unease, but his worries vanished as soon as Griffin spoke again. "You're my best friend. I couldn't do that! ...Even if you don't know who Uncle Buck is..."
Well, that settled it. Despite everything that had happened and despite the situation, Nick laughed and, looking a bit surprised, Griffin began to laugh too after a moment of hesitation. It wasn't long though before the two of them were giggling hysterically at the far off memory of the Uncle Buck incident, and it seemed just like old times once again. Nick could ignore the glitches of Griffin's form shooting off with every chuckle and the remnants of Busto 2.0's anger. After all he wasn't exactly human anymore either. The baggy racecar suit hid limbs that didnt exactly bend right, and some parts of it were almost melded into his body. But regardless, they were still the same people, no matter what they had been through.
But, Nick did have one question to ask...
"A tale of two Bustos huh?"
Griffin's laughter disappeared entirely and a bright pink blush appeared across his face. "Shut UP, Nicolas, I said I didn't wanna talk about that!!"
Nick laughed, putting his arms up to protect himself from the godtrash rays spiking out from Griffin like porcupine quills. "Well, it's not all that weird after all the vore shenanigans we've been through..."
"Niiiiiiick, anyone would wanna be vored by the Blob! It's a fact of life!"
"Of course it is. Would anyone also want to-?"
"It was an accident, I got all godtrashed!!! It's like those weird magnetic dolls, I got all stuck together and- Uh oh! Now my arms are attached to my legs and my heads are fused together. Whoopsie daisy! Maybe if you got out of your bus for two seconds you could've helped, Mr. Five i-Phones and a Sun Chips Bag."
"You could've asked Iron Man."
"Iron Man's a menace."
And just like that, the protector and the destroyer made their peace as they drifted along in a black void. Isolated, but never alone.