Chapter Text
“The open ocean, with adventure on the horizon. Today is officially day one of the Yamatai Expedition, it is currently 8:25 am JST, and the expedition is finally underway, after spending the last two months preparing.”
A soft voice drifts over the recording as the camera slowly scans across the ocean, sun rays glittering across the water. The gentle ambience of waves fill the undertones of the recording, and the smile can be heard in the voice of the camerawoman.
“You wasted no time in recording.” A kind voice cuts in, and the camera pans to the side, a blond man with scruff on his chin smiling at the lens.
“Good morning Phil! Here, folks, we have the eldest of the Croft siblings. Legends in the making.”
He laughs brightly, leaning against the railing.
A voice echoes in from a doorway further back. The waves prevent the camera from picking up what is said.
Phil, upon hearing the voice, turns around to shout back. “I’m not old, you little shit!”
The camerawoman laughs, camera shaking with her lilting laughter, and the unknown voice can be heard breaking into laughter. Rolling his eyes, Phil laughs as well, before the camera cuts to black.
The recording starts, camera shaking for a moment before steadying to peer past a metal door into a room. The lens focuses on two people after a moment, watching them as they lean over a table.
One, with fluffy hair that hangs down over the corner of his circle rimmed glasses, is standing and using the end of a pencil to point at points on the large map spread across the table. The other, long pink hair tied up into a braided bun with some strands hanging down over rectangular rimmed glasses, is seated with a book in one hand and a journal on the table underneath the other.
The camerawoman starts speaking as she steps into the room, her other hand pushing open the door outside of the camera's view. “Here, we see the Croft twins in their natural habitat of knowledge.”
Two pairs of red eyes look up from their work and to the new addition to the room. The pink haired twin gives a slight smile, while the brown haired twin grins brightly as he realizes who has joined them.
“Hey Niki!”
“Hey Wilbur!” The camera tilts for a moment before straightening again. “What are the two of you up to?”
“Well,” the pink haired twin began, “we were going over the knowledge we have on Yamatai. We know it is somewhere in the ocean off the coast of Japan, but no one has been able to find its exact location.”
“Which is why we’re looking into where to go on the map! Maybe, if we try looking somewhere no one else has, we can find something new!”
“Now the big thing is just figuring out where that ‘somewhere else’ should be.”
“Where are you two thinking of right now?” Niki steps closer to the table, camera panning across the map.
“We aren’t sure just yet. We’re still trying to compare the paths of previous expedition parties.”
“Good luck, then! I’ll leave you two geniuses to it.”
Both twins smile and thank her before the recording ends.
The camera turns on in the kitchen this time. Sizzling can be heard from one of the pans in the room while a tall man with vitiligo stirs a large pot from the far side of the counter. On the near side, a pair of young adults sit on stools while discussing.
“Tubbo, big man, I would destroy you in a cake eating contest.”
“No you wouldn't! I can eat cake so quickly, you aren’t ready for my cake eating speed.”
The man with vitiligo waves at the camera, and Niki walks around the counter to him.
“Hi Niki.”
“Hello Ranboo! Do I even want to know what’s happening here?”
He sighs, sounding entirely disappointed with his two friends. “They were initially discussing how fast they could both eat different foods. Now they’re on the topic of eating a whole cake, solo.”
“Knowing them, that would be a terrifying contest.”
Ranboo nods solemnly.
“Bossman, I have power—”
“Tubbso, I have terrified people with my cake eating before—”
“Technically,” Ranboo begins again, neither of the other boys paying any attention to the two on the other side of the counter, “they’re both correct. They’ve each told me about them eating a full cake, solo, in a minute before. They just don’t realize the other has done it too.”
“Sometimes, they terrify me.”
“I’ve just gotten used to it.”
The camera watches the blond and brunette boys for another minute before ending the recording.
The camera turns on in the kitchen again. Ranboo and Tubbo are behind the main counter, where Tubbo is helping Ranboo fill up bowls with food.
On the near side of the counter, a pair of older men sit on the stools. One wears a dark grey hoodie, pulled up over his head, a red bandana with black and yellow designs on it pulled over the lower half of his face. The other has hair dyed dark green, and a military jacket on as they talk with one another.
By the table, a young adult with a buzzcut is seated, watching the others nearby while a computer rests on the table in front of him. At the end of the table closest to the counters; Tommy, Wilbur, and the pink haired Croft stand around a map on the table, speaking to an older man with them.
“We’ve done the research, Dr Whitman. If we push east, rather than west—”
The older man at the table shakes his head as he speaks, cutting off the pink haired Croft. “No one believes Yamatai is that far east, Techno. The books simply don't support it—”
“Yeah, well, whoever wrote those books clearly never found Yamatai.”
Wilbur smiles at Tommy’s intrusion to the conversation, speaking up as well. “Exactly! We’ve looked over the paths of previous exploration crews, all of them head west... here,” he points to a part of the map, “but never east.”
Whitman glares at the map and shakes his head. “I refuse to bet my reputation on some hunch . I’m the lead archaeologist here—”
“And when were you last in the field without a TV crew behind you?” The man wearing the bandana speaks up; the camera turns to look at him, as him and the green haired man have turned to listen to the conversation.
Clearly annoyed, Whitman turns to speak back. “I’ve got 30 years of experience, two PhDs, one in East Asian history, so why don’t you just stick to boats, Mr. Ponk.”
“Ship, Dr. Whitman. It’s a ship. You don’t need a PhD to know that.” He rolls his eyes and turns more towards the counter again.
“Look,” Wilbur says, “going east will take us directly into the Dragon’s Triangle, that’s where we need to go.”
“There are some crazy storms that way.” The man with the buzzcut says.
“Stories about Queen Himiko say she could summon storms.” Techno says. “Myths are usually based on some version of the truth. What if Yamatai was somewhere in the triangle itself?”
“Well—look,” the man with the buzzcut says, turning his computer to face the others. The camera zooms in towards the screen. “This is the satellite imagery from inside the dragon’s triangle.”
There’s a moment of quiet before Phil’s voice comes from off camera. “That doesn’t look good.”
Ponk shrugs as he looks at the screen, “I can sail on it.”
“Oh don’t tell me you’re seriously considering—”
“Enough!” The green haired man cuts off Whitman, standing and stepping over to the table. “Our funding isn’t going to last forever. They’re offering some fresh ideas and a plan. I’m the captain here, it’s my decision. We’re going into the Dragon’s Triangle.”
Whitman huffs, “Why am I even here?” He grabs one of the bowls of food, and stomps off.
The camera follows him for a moment as he leaves the room, before the recording ends.
The camera starts recording, pointing into the ocean. An island can be seen approaching.
“You think that’s it?” Niki says, turning the camera to face Phil and Tommy, both leaning against the railing to look at the island.
“It’s certainly possible—”
“I’m gonna go tell Techno and Wilbur!” Tommy jumps back from the railing, an excited grin spreading across his face. “They were fucking right. ”
Laughing, Phil turns to him. “They were right about something being out here, for sure.”
“Wait, what’s....”
The camera jerks ahead of them again, turning towards the sky as sudden clouds blot out the light.
“The sky was just clear....” There's obvious concern from Phil’s voice as he speaks.
It starts to rain.... It starts to rain hard.
The camera cuts off.
The pair of twins sit in Techno’s room, where Techno quietly reads on the bed while Wilbur plays a guitar from his seat further down the bed.
Then, they hear the ship’s alarm start to go off.
Instantly, Wilbur stops playing, looking to Techno as the other twin sits up on the bed.
They share a look before Wilbur sets the guitar down behind him, Techno setting down his book as he turns to stand from the bed.
As they both stand, the ship rocks violently below them, nearly throwing both of them off their feet.
Instead, they stumble, roughly catching themselves on the other wall of the small room.
They open the door of the room, stepping into the hallway. They don’t see anyone else in their quick glance down the hall, and turn to head for the ladder to the upper deck.
The alarm rings out, lights flashing red as they hurry down the hall.
They pause at the ladder, hearing rushing water from further in the ship.
They waste no more time getting out from below deck, being met with a raging storm, winds strong enough to make balancing difficult.
Then, the twins look to the side, seeing the front half of the ship completely torn from the back half, where they stand.
It’s only a minute before they’re falling into the water, struggling to swim towards the island shore.
Crawling ashore, both twins cough to clear their lungs of water, the rain still pouring to the ground around them.
Wilbur spots a few of the others on a ridge above them, standing and attempting to call out to them.
His voice doesn’t carry far enough for them to hear.
“Jack! Ranboo!” He coughs, before turning to face his quiet brother. “Tech—”
He feels something slam into the back of his head, and everything goes black.