Chapter Text
It was cold. So, so cold.
Five Pebbles wasn’t even aware his puppet could feel cold, but here he was.
Sitting in the cracked open remains of his chamber, his puppet shivering as the snow kept falling down. He didn’t know how long it had been. His mind felt like it was drowning in a thick fog. Time, memories, and all his senses meshed together in a blur. He was just so, so cold. The feeling of loneliness was ever present. He could remember so little, but he felt immense regret. It felt as though his metallic chest was being crushed, yet he could not die.
He could only hear the howling of the frosty wind, and the distorted music from the last possession he owned. He couldn’t even recognize the song, but it somehow still brought him a smidge of comfort, a drop among the ocean of despair he was currently awash in.
His optic lenses barely functioned, so it took a long while before he registered the presence of something green.
Five Pebbles slowly raised his head towards the stranger. It extended a part of itself – a hand – towards him, and he groggily gripped it with his own. His hands could not stop shaking. What little of him was left could make out the hand to be a paw, in fact.
“He.. hello.. little green...” His voicebox sounded broken, and distorted.
The creature withdrew its arm, leaving his hand hanging in the air. He could feel frost building up in his joints, and it took a few seconds before he finally moved his hand back.
“Nothing.. left... nothing here...”
Here he was, Five Pebbles, talking to a green furred beast who stood above him. A mighty Nd passing god, reduced to nothing but a shivering and silent construct. All of this was his fault. His fault alone. He briefly wondered if the creature had come to watch him wallow in his own pitied existence, as a sort of vengeance for all the damage he’d caused. He certainly felt like it was deserved.
But then, a glow. The green blur seemed to rise into the air. He saw flashes of blue, yellow, and for the first time since his collapse, his lenses became flooded by brightness.
Suddenly, Five Pebbles saw the lifeless blurs around him twist and swirl, and his own body felt like it was being stretched and crushed at the same time. He tried to scream, to do anything, but his body was paralyzed. He was falling, rising, twisting and spinning in every direction imaginable. His eyes blinded by the piercing white void that seemed to surround him.
After what felt like a conjunction of mere seconds, and several long cycles, Five Pebbles opened his eyes. The horrid sensations stopped. He looked down at his puppet, his entire body quivering. Around him, an almost ethereal stream of gold and white flashed in and out of existence. A strange, but wavy room surrounded him. It felt as though the very structure was going to tear out of its place at any moment.
Was this... was this his chamber? His broken mind slowly put the pieces together. A strange, dreamy replica, yes. But it felt so familiar, yet so detached.
Wait. Was this it? Had he done it? A triple affirmative?! The green beast...
Before Five Pebbles could ponder any longer, he felt the presence of another behind him. He didn't know how, but he felt the urge to turn around. Behind him, an iterator puppet, just like his. An aura of blinding gold surrounded the being, but through squinting he could see the color blue.
...Moon?
The figure began to approach him. He saw its blue body, a tattered cloak covering most of it. And a red circle on her forehead, a clear indication that it was Looks to the Moon.
“Hello, Pebbles.” She spoke, too suddenly for him, his body completely frozen in place. What was she... had she made it too? He couldn’t stop shaking. His lense ducts even began to seep a tiny amount of coolant fluid.
“Moon!” He broke free of the invisible constraints that held him in place, forcing his body to run as fast as it could. It felt like every kinetic force possible was pushing against him, but he still managed to close the distance between them.
“Moon, I-” He stopped and yelled, and felt his body lurch backwards, sinking into the pale void beneath him. He watched in anguish as Moon began to shrink away as he sank. Pebbles reached his arms out, but he was falling too fast. His own self began to collapse, tendrils of his own body breaking apart at the very seams as he drowned and merged into the white sea. He once again could not scream, or cry, or do anything. Pebbles could only watch helplessly as Moon disappeared into the blinding light far, far above.
A soft voice surrounded him, as if its speaker was whispering in his ear, no matter how fast he fell.
“It will all be okay.”
She dissipated into dust. He reached his hands out, trying to pick up the pieces, but his fingers couldn’t get a hold of anything. And then his existence went dark.
Pebbles felt something rewire itself inside of him. His consciousness suddenly returned to him, and his mind began to click back together. He was alive! But horrendously disoriented. What happened? Where was he?
...Where was Moon?
His eyes shot open, cringing as the bright sunlight forced them closed briefly. Wait... sunlight? He squirmed in place. Then it hit him. He couldn’t feel his structure. Like missing a limb, Five Pebbles bit his lip as he tried in vain to access his systems. Was he finally free from his umbilical? But how had sunlight entered his chamber? And... since when did he have lips?
His eyes opened again, this time blinking slowly to avoid the blinding light. He moved an arm... paw? Then he screamed. Or... whatever sound a warbled mess of someone unfamiliar with his vocal cords would sound like.
What happened to me?! Is this some sick, cruel joke? Why am I...
He remembered. He remembered! Five Pebbles realized all of his previous memories had returned to him. The thick haze and the shivering cold were gone. He was still disconnected from his structure, but his memories had somehow returned to him.
Was that green creature responsible for this... transformation? Pebbles needed answers. He had to find his structure, and then perhaps he could figure something out. If it still remained, however. For now, he needed to do something about hos current predicament.
Five Pebbles tried moving his limbs, feeling immense discomfort. Without his umbilical to keep him upright, he fell into a roll, tumbling across the muddy floor. His mechanical– no, biological parts ached as he finally came to a stop, just before a large puddle of water. Pushing his body forward with his four limbs, Pebbles was staring down into the water. On the surface, he saw his own reflection. Staring back at him was a pink slugcat, complete with a pair of ears, a snout, and a lot of fur. He stared for a long time, unable to pull his eyes away.
This is some... twisted irony against me by Karma, isn’t it?
He could at least feel internally relieved that his old mind was working once more. Partially. At first he had believed all his memories returned, but now he began to feel a slight haze in his mind. A far cry from when he sat in his destroyed, crumbled chamber, but it was present regardless.
Five Pebbles, reduced from a God to an animal. But... he was free. He was no longer bound to his chamber, no longer chained by the limitations placed upon him by his creators! He could... he could explore the world! Finally do some maintenance on himself! And Moon–
Moon...
Resolve built in the iterator for the first time since... too many cycles to count. Although he had his memories returned, his processing power was equivalent to that of this beast’s body. He could only maintain one coherent thought at a time. This was going to take a lot of getting used to...
Pebbles gave his mouth an experimental poke. He willed it open, surprised at how smooth the movements felt for someone who had never had such a cavity before. He moved his paw around the edges of his sharp, pointed teeth. He gave his tongue a sharp pull before suddenly letting go. Not a good idea!
He realized that beside his two fluffy ears were his antennae. At least he still had them, though he wasn’t sure if their functionality remained. He also realized his robes were still being worn. Snug and free of tears, it seemed to have been refitted to fit his now... smaller body. Priorities, he reminded himself. He had to learn how to walk. He tried to pull himself up, and walk on his two hind legs, but his muscles gave out and he stumbled once more. Another try. He still fell over; letting out several curse words of choice, which in his case came out as gibberish mumbling. He needed to get the hang of speaking as well.
Finally, Five Pebbles resigned to walking on all fours. He found it much easier this time, and soon he was taking his first, unsteady steps. A sense of pride beamed across his face, and he smiled. Then he frowned, remembering once again that he was in the body of an animalistic beast. No. There were more to these creatures, he recalled. He had learned so after they continued to intrude into his chamber, no matter what he said or did. They seemed intelligent enough to figure out many things on their own. But he still couldn’t help but feel repulsion towards his new body. After all, spending countless kilo-cycles as a massive superstructure will do that to someone trapped in a body they never wanted.
Five Pebbles continued to gloat over his frustratingly slow progress at re-learning how to walk. The fact that slugcats only had three fingers compared to his puppet’s five did not help. Just as he conquered his first change of terrain, debris and fallen rubble shook slightly as something thumped its way towards his position. He twisted his head around, still expecting his umbilical cord to hold him back. A yellow lizard had spotted him! The scaly beast’s body easily towered over his own, and it was approaching as fast as its feet could run.
Pebbles let out what could only be described as a high-pitched squeal, instincts that he thought to never have kicking in. His small, pale arms threw his body backwards, but the yellow lizard hissed and snapped its jaws.
“NO! I AM NOT YOUR MEAL!” He found his voice finally coming to him, the outburst enough to finally form coherent words through his throat. The lizard neither cared nor understood him, however, and continued its pursuit. Pebbles could only move his unadjusted slugcat body so fast before the yellow lizard stomped a heavy foot on his tail – of course, he had a tail too! The lizard seemed content now, slowing its pursuit now that its prey was trapped.
So this is how it ends, huh? His sliver of freedom ended at the jaws of a reptilian beast.One that had strayed away from its pack, likely taking him as an easy kill. He shut his beady eyes, accepting with a tremble his inevitable demise.
The sounds of explosions caused the lizard to halt in its tracks and twist its head backward. A flash of maroon and a blast above the lizard caused it to lose its grip on Pebbles’ tail. He wasted no time in coddling up his tail against his body. The lizard threw its head up, growling at its assailant, before receiving a spear straight in its rear end. With little effort, the lizard received stabbing after stabbing before it dropped onto the ground with a thump, yellow blood spilling over the concrete floor. Five Pebbles covered his eyes with his paws. His ears rang and his eyes were blurry from the adrenaline rushing through his body. When his hearing began to clear and he gathered the bravery to peek an eye open, he saw a maroon-colored being standing by him. Their fur was covered with dark splotch marks and a spear in their grip. A large, bulky white mask sat on their face, several antlers lined with pearls sticking out of its sides. Immediate thoughts of familiarity entered the pink slugcat’s head, but only when they removed the mask did he realize.
“Ci.. citizen?” Her ears twitched and her eye widened. Five Pebbles was immediately met with something wet brushing against his face. To his horror, she had begun licking him.
“R-ruffian, stop that!” He squeaked, the commanding tone he widely used in the past having been replaced by a weak mewl. He’d need to work on that.