Chapter Text
Rocko looked around as the village he knew and loved began to fade out of view. “No! The lava switch! What if the Hero? What if the Hero needs to… what if the… what… w… wel… welcome… back hero, would you like me to flip the lava switch… welcome back hero, would you like me to flip the lava switch… welcome back hero,” Rocko’s voice trailed off as he fell into a grey abyss, his color muting as he sunk.
“Looks like we lost another one. Poor guy.”
“Maybe we can send this one back up. Give him another shot in the next game.”
“You know the rules, Paint. If they fall, we keep ‘em. Dev’s orders.”
“…” The Four Guardians guided Rocko’s body to the ground, as his eyes began to close, and his mumbling slowed to a halt. The Guardians left Rocko’s body to dissolve into the void and moved over to the next being who fell into the empty, white expanse, repeating the process for every being that passed.
Four Years Later
“Attention Guardians!” A voice boomed from the void, with no discernable source. “We have decided to bring back one cut character for the next game! The four of you will decide who it is, and report back to your two screeners. Thank you for your services!” The two screeners floated down from above the Guardians. They both took the form of a blue aura, each with one distinct accessory.
“Alright people lets go through this shortlist! We only have thirteen characters to go through, so let’s make this quick!” yelled Willham, the screener with a pair of glasses. The Four Guardians ran onto their pedestals as a screen appeared in front of them. A picture of a human was displayed with a name above it.
NOLAN
“Alright! First up we have Nolan! Scrapped without a personality, but he did have a best friend named Alana, who we’ll be getting to shortly.”
“Is it possible to skip the ones without a personality this time?” Flash, the elected leader of the Guardians moved her pedestal forward. She wore a black reporters hat and a red jacket. In around her neck was a leather strap, holding up a vintage camera with a flash attached to its side. “I talked to some of the devs and according to them, this game needs to get out as soon as possible.”
“As much as I would like, we can’t skip over anyone.” Mayo, the second screener, looked over her hypothetical shoulder at a dark hole in the void, her earrings dangling with her movements. “We all know that it has the power to destroy us, should it see fit.” All six beings looked towards the hole and shuddered.
“That’s a good point, but still. This needs to get out as soon as possible.”
“How about this then?” Another pedestal rose to the middle of the six. On it was Hose, a yellow furred Raposa wearing a fireman’s helmet, along with turnout gear. Over his shoulder he had wrapped a hose, which he aimed at Flash. “We take all of those guys out of the running as we see em, and send everyone else to a new shortlist, that way we can run back through and take a closer look at the ones we want?”
“I like that idea!” Mayo cheerfully agreed, still cautiously looking at the hole. After little deliberation, the Guardians had created a new shortlist. “That leaves us Fiora, Lambert, Mildew, and Rocko.” As Mayo finished its statement, the dark hole shot a beam of darkness upwards. “And Shadow Mari, we cannot forget Shadow Mari.” The darkness returned into the hole as the screen displayed the first name.
FIORA
“Up first we have Fiora!” Willham shouted. “Not much is known about her other than she popped into the void one day along with Lambert. In my eyes they’re a package deal but I know the devs see differently.” The Four Guardians jotted down notes on tablets.
“She was grouped in with Watersong and Galactic Jungle NPCs, so we assume she was supposed to live in the Watersong Village.” The Guardians continued to jot down notes in silence.
“Alright, Guardians, do we have an agreement on Fiora?” Flash looked around at her peers, each nodding in agreement. “Alright then. Next please!”
LAMBERT
“Now, Lambert seems to be in the exact same category as Fiora. Only difference between the two is that he’s male and green.” More notes were jotted down as the screen moved to the next Raposa.
MILDEW
On the screen was an orange furred Raposa wearing a trash can lid on his head. “This is Mildew! I quite like this one cause he-“
“What’s his backstory?” The voice came from the third podium, housing Paint, a yellow furred Raposa with a red beret, paint brush, and palette. “I remember him from preliminary testing in Lavasteam, but don’t remember a backstory. I voted yes for him last time, but it didn’t pass, so what would we do with him?”
“I don’t know. Maybe we can make him a farmhand or a fisherman!” Mayo exclaimed.
“I like the way you think!” Paint responded. “I vote yea on Mildew. Who’s with me?”
“If voting for Mildew will get the game done faster, I vote yea.” Flash raised her hand.
“He’s the only one that has a full personality as I see it, so I vote yea as well!” Hose raised his hand, and everyone faced the final guardian. Ore was an orange haired Raposa who was leaning on his axe. He wore a yellow hard hat and a red shirt, with blue pants that matched.
“…” Ore raised his hand.
“Well then it’s settled! We’ll send Mildew up to the Dev Grove and let them work their thing!” A light formed in the center of the group and Mildew’s body was pulled from the floor of the void. He began to float upwards, gaining color as he went, and started speaking.
“aw… you came back… aw… you came back…” His eyes opened. “Aw… You came back! Aw… You came back!” He stood himself up on invisible ground and watched as his surroundings began to fade into a grassy terrain encased in trees. “You're friend number one of a dozen I'll– huh? Where am I?” Mildew looked down at his feet as the last visions of the void disappeared, but not before allowing him to see a black streak cut through the group that brought him to life. “Are they gonna be ok?” Suddenly, from the bush next to him, a human with brown hair popped out.
“They’ll be fine. Welcome to the Dev Grove Mildew! My name is Joe and I’ll be guiding you through the creation process.” As Mildew followed Joe into the woods, a human girl poked her head out from behind a rock.
“I can’t believe that worked! I’m free!” She began to celebrate as her hair bobbed up and down with her, her yellow jacket swaying in the wind before halting at the blade that appeared through her torso.
“Sorry ma’am. You gotta be much quieter if you don’t want to be caught out here.”
“Alright fine. You caught me you filthy Droogle.” The rectangular, dog-like warrior pushed his sword through her body, popped her out of the grove and back into the void.
“Never. Call me a filthy Droogle.”
The Void
“Bring him back down!” Willham and Mayo stayed still as Shadow Mari summoned two Ink Tossers two her side.
“You know we can’t do that! Once the code is given a form, we can’t bring it back until the devs decide otherwise!” Mayo’s earrings jingled in fear as a ball of ink flew past her.
“Consider that a warning shot. I don’t care what you have to do, get Mildew back down here or else, this entire realm will be reborn.”
“Reborn? No, you don’t mean-“
“I do mean Willham! I’ll resurrect every last one of the code fragments, unused sprites, and concept art and let them roam free!”
“You don’t have the guts!” Everyone’s eyes turned towards the voice cutting through the scene. “And if you do, your face’ll get a nice, warm welcome from my ol’ pickaxe ‘ere!” The other three guardians moved their pedestals away from Ore as an Ink Tosser fired a ball of ink at the miner.
“I don’t have the guts I guess.” Shadow Mari called off her two Ink Tossers and sent them back to the dark pit. “Then I wonder who’s guts these are.” A beam of darkness shot out from the hole and began to flow in seemingly random directions.
“Mari don’t!” Willham’s cries were cut short as a beam shot through him and the screen displaying Mildew’s name. He evaporated into the air and a blue smoke floated upwards. As the shadow touched the floors of the void, environments began to spring up. Floating rocks with windmills and machinery, some semblance of a watering hole, and a pocket of space – home to a giant, round creature – all began to pop up in random locations. A second beam of shadow landed right outside the grounds where the guardians held their meeting, and a village resembling Lavasteam began to form. In one corner of the village was a pool of color, which also began to shoot its own beams.
The beams of color flowed over every other area and brought life to each of them. On the floating rocks, two Raposa and many sleeping shadow beings were spawned into life. In the watering hole, a turtle with ice on its shell walked across the bottom of the lake, followed by a toad, stuck in a ball, and a smack of blue and yellow jellyfish. The space area gained no new life, but the creature inhabiting its center opened its eyes and yawned. Flash, Hose, and Paint ran to the edge of the Lavasteam village and huddled together as Rocko stood and shook his head. Next to him ran a Rabosa, a bipedal fox, and a large, red snake.
“Welcome back, Hero. Would you like me to flip the lava switch?” Rocko smirked as he looked down at the three guardians, eventually helping them pull Ore, still covered in ink, onto the island. “Throw him in the vat of color over there and he’ll be perfectly fine.” The other guardians carried Ore over to the color vat as Rocko approached the Fox. “Y’know, now that we’re free, we can do just about anything. No devs to watch over us means we don’t have to abide by our code anymore.”
“Maybe so, but why would I want to be anything besides who I am? Being a fox is great!”
“Fair enough, but I’m gonna be more than just the Lava Switch guy! I got my engineering skill and my lunchbox on my side, so I’m gonna go and discover this world!”
“Well don’t just leave me behind! We may have just met, but it feels like I know you pretty well!” Fox ran forward and held Rocko back from jumping off the page. “So, like it or not, we’re a team.”
“Actually, if you don’t mind,” a voice called out to the two, “we could really use your help rebuilding around here!” Mayo floated down to the two and shrunk herself to meet their eyes.
“Sorry ma’am, but you appointed your guardians for a reason. We were just data in an abyss until a few seconds ago, and by my count, we don’t have you to thank for bringing us to life.” Mayo floated back in shock and looked over to the guardians. They pulled Ore out of the color vat, who now looked younger than before.
“…” The four embraced as Mayo sighed and drifted away, mumbling under her breath.
“Alright then Fox! Let’s go find that Shadow Girl and give her some thanks!”
“I’ll happily oblige but I gotta go get another friend first. From what I know, they should be…” Fox looked around the area until he saw a jungle filled with a bounty of houses and blue birds. “…right over there!” The two begun to walk towards the village when they were stopped by a barricade of ants with leaves.
“Hey watch it punks!” A blue bird swooped down at the two.
“Yeah! Lettem work! Stop intrudin’!” A squirrel swooped down behind them. Rocko and Fox looked into the sky to see that birds and flying squirrels were beginning to circle in the air above them, continuing to dive bomb the group.
“Quick! There’s a bamboo hut just a gap away, lets jump for it!” Rocko and Fox stood in a line and jumped across the gap and landed safely in the house, were a large Golden Baki and a Bonobo were waiting for them.
“Well damn. There’s no way we can make it out of this mess.” Fox said while eying the possible exits. Suddenly, a beam of shadow and a beam of color made their way through the area, drawing in the space pocket and covering the terrain with ice.
“What the hell is happening?” Rocko, Fox, the Bonobo, and the Golden Baki slid around the floor as the planets began to move closer.
“We have to get up there to my friend before those planets collide with anything!” Rocko nodded at Fox and ran past the Golden Baki and towards the Bonobo, pushing it off the edge of the platform. The two of them ran out of the house when they noticed a giant gap in front of them. “There’s no way we can make this jump!”
“Not without help!” Fox called out to the birds and squirrels who all began to swoop towards them. As the enemies flew towards the group and over the gap, the two allies jumped on top of them, gaining height and another jump as they landed on each enemy. Suddenly, a blue smoke encompassed the area, blinding Rocko and Fox.
“Quick! Get to the other side! We’re almost there!” Fox landed on the other platform, sliding around as Rocko followed shortly behind him.
“Oh no you don’t,” the blue smoke shouted from the sky. Just then, the birds and squirrels began to dissolve into the void. Rocko maneuvered the squirrel he was on over to the other side of the gap just before it disappeared.
“Quick! Run to the trunk of that tree!” Rocko and Fox ran to the tree in front of them as the terrain behind them began to dissolve.
“I’ve burnt down one village; I’ll burn down another!” Willham formed himself at the opposite end of the terrain and began to float towards the group, dissolving the terrain behind him. As the planets neared the village, Fox called out to the house.
“Jinxy, You’re alive! C’mon you need to jump down to us!” A Raposa with two ponytails peeked out from inside the house and called back to the group.
“Oi, Fox! I’m on my way now.” As Willham approached the small hut, Jinxy jumped down to join the two. “Now, can either of ya explain to me what’s goin’ on?”
“Not the time. We need to get out of here, now!” Rocko grabbed Jinxy’s hand and followed Fox in jumping off the platform into the jungle below. As a planet collided with the hut, Willham flew past, dissolving the landscapes and returning the spot to the void.