Chapter Text
The forest was echoing with the noise of crickets and birds all throughout the remains of Deadwood. Inside of the tree were piles of rotten wood and scrap metal that a family of birds had made their home. The mother bird had just returned with a nice, plump worm for her children, chewing it up and dropping it into the mouths of her children. Suddenly, the rotten wood began to shake, scaring off the mother bird. As the wood began to shift more violently, the mother noticed her nest slowly fall off of the wood. An orange hand burst out from underneath the wood as the nest fell towards the ground. The mother swooped towards her babies as the pile of wood flew apart, exposing a Raposa that was scarred and covered in bruises. He reached out for the nest, but fell to the ground in pain, ever so slightly missing the nest. Right before the nest hit the ground, a second, darker Raposa dove into the tree, catching the nest, and resting it on a piece of wood that was laying on the side of the tree’s core. The mother bird flew over to her nest’s new location and continued to feed her babies as the darker furred Raposa picked up the orange furred Raposa. The babies continued to squeal for more food as the two Raposa left the tree, one of them weeping the whole time. The mother bird began to fly back into the forest, echoing with the noise of crickets and birds as a brilliant blue ball of light appeared and disappeared, leaving only the remains of Deadwood behind.
Kamalah’s Lab
Kamalah’s time machine flickered into existence in her lab, and she carried Milfre’s weak body out of it, resting her on a chair in her lab. Milfre continued to babble words without meaning as Kamalah draped a blanket over her. Kamalah tried to help Milfre calm down to no avail, and eventually, Milfre passed out from exhaustion. Turning off the lights in the room, Kamalah left Milfre to sleep until morning came.
The next morning, Milfre woke up to find Kamalah standing at her stove, making breakfast for the two of them. Milfre meekly stood up and hobbled over to Kamalah, peering over her shoulder as she cooked.
“I didn’t know you had Banya in the Jungle.”
“We don’t. I keep some in here for whenever I have guests over. You want anything in your banyajacks?”
“Do you have any chocolate chips?” Kamalah walked over to her fridge and pulled out folded bag of chocolate chips.
“Straight from the Plateaus.” Kamalah continued to make the banyajacks for the two of them as Milfre slowly continued to wake up. Eventually, the two sat down at Kamalah’s table and began to eat, and Kamalah popped the question that had been bugging her all night. “So, how come you’ve been scratching your arms so much? Even since I found you at Deadwood, you’ve been doing it.” Milfre stopped to look at her arm, remembering the mannequin arm that replaced only last night.
“Salem Rose attacked me.” Kamalah stopped eating and rested her utensils by her plate. “He attacked Wilfre too. Stole the Ruby Earring from him.” Kamalah stood up from her spot at the table and moved her chair over to Milfre, sitting down next to her.
“If you want to wait a bit longer to talk about it, that’s ok.”
“No, it’s fine. We can fix this right? We have the time machines.” Kamalah pulled Milfre onto her shoulder, rubbing her arm as she spoke.
“Sorry Milfre, it’s not that easy. We can’t just go back to before he attacked you and then attack him.”
“Then can we quell him at the source?”
“You’d just be doing what he’s trying to do to your father then.” The two of them sat in silence as Milfre began to cry once more.
“Don’t call him that. I don’t know what I am, but I’m certainly not his daughter.” Kamalah snapped upright and looked Milfre in the eyes.
“What are you talking about? Of course you’re his daughter!”
“You don’t know that! You want to know why I’ve been scratching my arms so much?” Milfre stood up and walked over to a disabled Duck Sentry that was on Kamalah’s work bench, activating it to shoot a ball of energy at herself. Kamalah watched in shock as Milfre’s arms dissolved into thin air, leaving two, wooden arms in their place. “You don’t know what I am. I don’t even know what I am!”
“Hey, hey, it’s ok! We can figure this out, but for now, you need to set the Duck Sentry down.” Milfre looked down at her arm and realized that she had kept the robot activated, shooting her legs and torso without her knowledge. She snapped back to reality and threw the Sentry across the room.
“Oh Creator, what I am I going to do?” Kamalah walked into her fridge and pulled out a large, pink heart, tossing it to Milfre. Her body absorbed the color from the heart creation, covering up her mannequin parts once more.
“We are going to work this out. I promise.” Milfre slowly fell to the floor, and Kamalah joined her. The two of them sat there while Milfre wept, Kamalah holding her all the while.
King Russet’s Meeting Room
“Is he gonna be ok?” Robigo had burst into the Lavasteam Palace moments earlier, carrying Stampy’s unconscious body in with her.
“It’s hard to say for sure, but I don’t see why we can’t try.” Lock was examining Stampy’s body, watching as he phased in and out of the table, seemingly at random. “If he keeps doing whatever this is, it might take a few days at least.”
“That’s fine, just get him the help he needs.” Robigo began to walk out of the meeting room when she was stopped by Lock.
“Hey, on your way out, could you stop by the throne room? Russet’s been pretty reclusive ever since you were last here, talking about a curse and whatnot.”
“Not now. There’re more urgent things at hand, but if I get a chance, I’ll come talk to him.” With that, Robigo left the castle, blasting off into the sky. Lock walked back to Stampy, watching as he continued to melt in and out of the table. Suddenly, Stampy bolt upright, breathing heavy and sweating ink.
“Where am I? How did I get here? Who are you? What’s going on? Where’s Milfre?” Lock tried to calm Stampy down as he spewed a flood of questions to the mechanic. After a few seconds of screaming, Stampy finally took in his surroundings and laid back onto the table.
“Alright, you good?”
“Yeah, I think so, sorry. Did I die again?”
“No, you weren’t dead, but you were doing this weird thing where you merged with the table. It’s like you became a sticker or something.” Stampy sighed and flattened himself onto the table once more.
“This?”
“Yeah! How’re you doing that?”
“Let’s just say magic, because I don’t feel like telling a stranger my entire life story right now.”
“I can buy magic. How about we just start with your name then?”
“I’m Stampy.”
“Nice to meet you Stampy, I’m Lock. Now, I got one more question for you before I’m out of your hair. You’re not a Shadow creature, are you? Cause that sticker thing you got goin’ on really reeks of Shadow.”
“No, don’t worry, I’m made of Ink. It’s a different thing. Sorry for scaring you though, this whole thing is still pretty new to me; I’ve only just recently learned how to move around while in that form.”
“I may not be an expert in Ink magic, but I do know a thing or two about controlling powers,” Lock said, gesturing to the worn down and refurbished Robosa in the workshop next door. “Tell you what. Let’s make a deal. You help me with a big project I’m working on, and I’ll do everything I possibly can to help you control your power. Deal?” Stampy stared at Lock, who had now outstretched his hand. With no other obvious options coming to his mind, Stampy shook Lock’s hand.
“It’s a deal. Now tell me, what’s this big project?”
“You ever wonder what it would be like to pilot a Robosa?”
The Wasteland
Milfre and Kamalah stepped out of the time machine onto the ground of the Wasteland. Milfre hugged her friend goodbye as she teleported back home. Milfre began to walk towards her room when she noticed that the island seemed eerily quiet. Looking around, she was shocked to find the Stellar Showdown Housing leveled, leaving nothing but rubble where it stood. As she continued to gawk at the damage, she bumped into a wall, causing her to fall over. Rubbing her head, she looked up to find that the barrier around the Shadow Quarter was up again.
“Do you remember your fight with your father back in 2013?” Milfre turned around to find Steven, Mayor, and Athys standing above her. “You used one of the village orbs to protect the Wasteland from a giant monster.”
“What did he do here?”
“I’m sure you’ve noticed the obvious damage,” Mayor said, gesturing to the pile of rubble. “But he also took the orbs.” Milfre looked around at the village pedestals and noticed that only the Watersong Orb was in its place.
“Can’t you all still walk through that barrier?”
“Somehow, no,” Athys said, pushing her hand against the barrier. “We don’t quite understand it ourselves, but this barrier is impenetrable.” Milfre stood up and looked up to her balcony.
“I promise, all of you, I’m going to get those orbs back. I’ll kill him if I have to.”
“Please don’t kill him,” a voice rang out from behind the ghosts. “That Raposa that passed through here, that wasn’t my son.” The ghosts turned around to see a tall, brown-furred Raposa walking towards them. “I apologize for not showing myself sooner, but please, Miles is a good kid.”
“I appreciate your concern sir, but you have no idea what he’s done since he became that monster. He murdered my father, nearly murdered me, and now this? I’ll try to fix him first, but if push comes to shove, I’ll do what I have to.” Meeny stood in silence as the other ghosts walked over to him.
“I…I understand. Please be safe out there.” Milfre turned to face Steven again.
“Do you know where he went from here?”
“No, sadly. He demanded the three orbs, and when we wouldn’t give them to him, he destroyed the housing project. While we were distracted trying to get people out of the way, he took the Galactic Jungle and Lavasteam orbs.”
“I thought you were ghosts, why did you need to get people out of the way?”
“We’re immortal, not invulnerable. Getting crushed by a 20-story building will hurt us just as much as it would hurt you.” Milfre paused and looked back at the Watersong Orb.
“Why didn’t he take that one?”
“I don’t know to be honest. We noticed him grabbing the other two orbs and then he ran back to his time machine, yelling something about getting rid of roadblocks.” Milfre thought for a bit before sticking her arm into the Watersong Orb. She closed her eyes and imagined her arm, part color, part mannequin. As she continued to focus, she imagined the water moving into her arm and coating the mannequin arms. When she opened her eyes, the Watersong Orb was gone, and she could feel the water coursing through her body.
“Thank you for the information Steven, I appreciate it.”
“Any…time…how did you do that?” Milfre winked at her grandfather as she began to rise into the sky, water shooting out from her limbs.
“Anything is possible when you’re a Creation Hero.” The ghosts looked at each other in bewilderment as Milfre soared through the sky, flying towards the Galactic Jungle.
Deadwood, 9 Hours Ago
Robigo and Deadwood sat in silence for what seemed like hours. YoYaYa fell asleep curled up next to Robigo, and the great tree listened to the peaceful sounds of the landscape. Eventually, the sky turned dark, and the room was lit up by a blue light. Out of the time machine stepped Salem Rose, covering himself with an aura of both Color and Shadow.
“It’s time to go Robigo. Something big is coming.” YoYaYa ran up to Salem Rose, pawing at his legs. Salem Rose kicked the pet away, gesturing for Robigo to leave. She walked out of the tree and towards her time machine, listening in to the yelps coming from YoYaYa inside the tree, closing the door, and resting on the floor of the machine.
Robigo opened her eyes and shook of the memory of nine hours prior. She was standing in front of Salem Rose’s Mansion, hesitating to knock. After some more consideration, she swallowed her fears and reached for the doors when suddenly, the doors shot open, and Salem Rose stepped out from inside.
“Alone, vulnerable, and afraid.”
“I could only find one place that fit all three criteria.”
“Good. You and I will head there after tying up one last loose end.”
“Loose end?”
“I hope you weren’t too attached to Kamalah,” Salem Rose said, shoving the Lavasteam Orb onto Robigo’s chest and walking back into his time machine. “We have a lab to burn.”
Lock’s Workshop
Lock led Stampy into his workshop, pushing aside spare Robosa parts and various tubing, screws, and cords. Pulling down a curtain at the back of the workshop, Lock showed Stampy different pieces of Robosa scraps assembled into a mechanical suit.
“I’ve built the suit already, but I’ve been having a hell of a time powering it, piloting it, and actually using it for anything other than a really fancy paperweight.”
“So, why do you need a suit like this?” Stampy asked as he flattened himself onto the chest plate.
“Well, the person who brought you in, Miss Robigo, was apparently trapped in a cavern full of lava for some 30-odd years. I started building this prototype so that we can rescue people from the lava if something like that ever happens again.”
“How could she survive that long with no food or water, not to mention being literally boiled alive for 30 years straight.”
“We have no idea. After she escaped, she told us that she was ‘cursed by the Creator.’ Something about being rust-furred.” Stampy popped off of the suit and walked around to the backside.
“Well, what have you tried to power this thing with?”
“Electricity, Banya Crystals, Lava, all sorts of things. For some reason, it just won’t work correctly.” Stampy thought back into his past and remembered the only other rust-furred Raposa he knew. He relived the Shadow oozing over him on the walls on the Ink Factory when an idea popped into his head.
“Have you tried Shadow?” Lock peered over to Stampy.
“I’m not gonna lie, we thought about it. Shadow and Color. Problem is, we don’t have a way to collect or harness either of those.”
“You said you would do anything you could to help me control my power, right?”
“Yes sir,” Lock said, leaning back on his work bench. “What’s that got to do with this suit?”
“What if you could power it with Ink?”