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Chapter Text

Second's eyes widened in shock as he saw his friends be torn apart to codes and soon into nothingness. That's it. The Dark Lord killed them. They were... gone.

He felt anger, sadness, desperation fill inside of him. Yet he couldn't do anything, he was terrified. One slip up and he could die in a single strike from The Dark Lord. He turned his gaze to The Chosen One, the black hollow head stick figure was currently being swarmed by Virabots, some spider looking bots that The Dark Lord created. Second watched him as he struggled to get the Virabots off of him, he fired lasers, threw fireballs at them, but nothing worked.

Feeling desperate, seeing Chosen as his only hope, Second tried reaching out to him, but before he could spit out even a single sound, he felt a strong jab of pain in his chest. Second froze in shock. He was stabbed by Dark. He broke down into tears, clearly fearing death. He sat up on his knee, looking at his hands, thinking, "Why did it turn out like this?"

The Dark Lord only grinned and cracked a mischievous laugh as he saw Second sobbing and crying, he won. The Chosen One is powerless before his Virabots, he has portals to websites ready to open, his plan was going perfectly.

That was until he realized Second hasn't disintegrated to code yet.

He raised his eyebrow, clearly confused as to why Second hadn't disintegrated to code when he should have a few seconds ago. He lifted Second, slammed him to the ground, and stabbed him again in a similar spot, only to be punched weakly by the orange hollow head in the face. He felt a little annoyed at this, he threw Second to the air and flew up. He started slashing Second from every angle, and with no rests. Feeling it was enough, Dark punched him, causing Second to hit into the cliff side. He didn't really care much more that the kid didn't disintegrate to codes, all that matters now it's that he won't be in his way again, ever.

...

Or so he thought.

As he opened the website portals, he ordered the Virabots to head over the portals and start causing havoc to the websites open, leaving a beat up Chosen alone while still having him in full view over everything happening. Suddenly the Virabots perished within a second. Dark flinched a little, before he could understand the situation, he was punched and slammed to the water so quickly, he couldn't even see what hit him. He quickly gasped for air after reaching the surface, only to be attacked by someone again. After a few punches, Dark could finally identify the culprit behind the attacks to be the orange hollow head that he assumed to be weak and no longer a threat a few moments ago, Second.

He let out a few yelps of pain before finally having an opportunity to slam Second towards the cliff side, and he did. Seeing Second temporarily distracted, he tried running away, he knew it was done for him if he got caught. He peeked back a little, and saw a boulder getting thrown at him, he barely dodged it. A few more good punches and he was floating in the air, looking up to Second, he saw the orange hollow head figure being surrounded by green aura, and he felt a strong, very very strong presence of power before him right now. It was quite a mesmerizing view if he weren't being beat up. Second was charging up for what it seems to be a laser blast from his eyes. Dark widened his eyes and let out his 'final words'.

"Oh stick."

And with that he was blasted to the mountain not far away from here, followed by an explosion that would most certainly without a doubt, kill a normal stick.

Chosen seeing all that just happened froze in shock and awe. That kid he had been underestimating had this power all along? He was lucky Second activated his powers in the last second, if it weren't for him, the internet would've been doomed right now. Though he did kind of wish he could've activated it sooner, he could've avoided a lot more injuries if so. One thing is for certain though, Chosen owed Second one. The internet was safe, for now.

After the explosion, Chosen saw Second drifting slowly towards the small shack that was previously used by Dark, he couldn't see Second anymore, but strands of green code start appearing in front of him and forming figures of the colored quadruplets that was previously killed off by Dark. Chosen untensed a little as he watched the stick figures return back.

"Wha- guys?" Red was the first to say something, before he could finish the sentence, he was immediately tackled into a group hug by the rest of the sticks. After a few seconds of hugging, Green piped up.

"Second!" He half screamed frantically, panic starting to rise from his facial expressions. Yellow widened his eyes and started looking around, but no sign of Second. Red and Blue walked around a little, searching for traces of Second. Chosen fake coughed to the quadruplets, earning their attention. He pointed up to the shack, the sticks immediately clicked on what Chosen meant and started running towards the shack. Chosen followed quietly behind them, he was never the one who enjoyed interactions. He's only ever interacted with Dark all these years, and it's mostly Dark who does the talking.

Wait... Dark. Chosen would have to check on him later, just in case. He is too dangerous to be left just like that, that is even if he's still... alive. He shook off the thoughts and continued following the quadruplets. After a few moments, Chosen and the colored quadruplets have returned to the shack, where they found Second laying on the ground, unconscious. They all went inside the shack through the big hole that was made when Chosen was battling Dark.

Blue immediately bent down started shaking Second a bit, calling out his name quietly a few times to not surprise him while the others watched worriedly. Chosen waited outside, he crossed his arms and kept a neutral straight and calm demeanor, but beneath all of the calmness he displayed, thoughts of anxiety kept rushing through his head. Soon enough, Second eyes started twitching, his fingers also slightly moving a little. He let out a groan and tried to stand up, Yellow was quick to notice and he bent down beside Second and supported his back, helping Second get up.

"Guys...? Y-you're all back! I- I uhm... W-what happened?" Second asked, Green scratched the back of his head, unsure what to say.

Red responded, "The last thing I remember was being stabbed... by... The Dark Lord..." He slowly explained, yet his words slowly trailing off to silence in the end. The room was filled with silence for a few moments.

"Well, at least we're all fine now," Blue said, trying to lighten the situation, earning a few hesitant nods from the others. Second turned his attention to Chosen. Chosen was looking outside, seeming to wait for something.

Second stood up, he put his hands together and slowly approached Chosen, the others just watched in silence. "Uhm, hey Chosen... T-that's your name, right...?" Second asked hesitantly, Chosen glanced at Second, and responded with a single nod. "Well, I just want to say... thank you for what you did back there. I don't think any of us would have survived in the end without you," Second said sincerely to Chosen, he smiled a little. Chosen was caught off guard by the sudden praise, he tried hide a snicker as he thought about the irony of this situation, Chosen being praised of something he didn't even do, yet the stick who had done it is praising him right now. But he responded Second with a small grin, Second was shocked a little when he saw Chosen grin. Perhaps beneath all that stoic, serious, intimidating stick Chosen is, there is still a heart inside.

"So... How do we get back?"

Green suddenly questioned which made everyone realize. Yeah... how are they gonna get back to Alan's PC?

"I guess Alan will be looking for us... But it's not like he can get back here without being coded by my program again, in which case the computer is dead, and the cursor was broken down by... The Dark Lord," Yellow stated while eyeing at the computer, which had broken down because of the lack of power source, clearly disappointed because he could've got them back in an instant.

Everyone then turned to Chosen, Chosen stared back with confusion. "Can you fly us back, please?" Second asked Chosen, trying his best not to be rude.

Chosen stuttered, "I- ...I'm too badly injured to fly you all right now... Apologies," he hugged himself and his face slightly grimaced, seeming to recall every unpleasant attack that he got during the fight not long ago. Yellow sighed as he stared at somewhere else, which is a habit that he developed when he needed some time to think, while Blue nodded in understanding. Second slowly started patting Chosen's back, a simple yet quite effective gesture to assure him that everything will be okay. Red darted their eyes between everyone, not knowing what to do, while Green paced back and forth in the room while stopping once in a while to tap his feet in anxiety.

Chosen then remembered, Second has powers right? He can just fly himself and his friends back. "S-second... Why don't you just fly yourself and your friends back?" Chosen asked hesitantly.

Second titled his head in confusion, "Fly us back? ...Are you joking right now, Chosen? I don't have powers like you," Second pointed out while laughing a little.

What? Second doesn't remember?

...

Chosen decided to not push on the matter, besides, he's still a kid. He shouldn't be receiving that much info within a short amount of time. And the fact that he most likely killed The Dark Lord, Chosen decided to stop talking about this topic.

"Uh, nevermind," Chosen replied firmly. The rest of the sticks tilted their heads in unison, clearly confused, but the also decided to not ask further because that would be rude.

"...I guess you can stay here for the time being. I don't think you kids would be able to get back to your PC soon," Chosen gave an option for them, the sticks stared at each other for some time, having a silent discussion that only they could understand. The sticks nodded in unison before Second finally replied, stating their decision.

"I guess we can stay for a while..."

Chapter Text

Alan was worried. Very worried.

He sat in front of his PC screen, having deep thoughts. Ever since his cursor was disconnected with whatever place The Chosen One and The Dark Lord were fighting, he was worried sick about his stick figures who got caught up in the fight. He had work to do, but that can wait.

It's been around 30 minutes since he disconnected. Are they okay? He kept eyeing at the wi-fi portal that The Chosen One created beforehand, hoping that they would return soon. Surely they're fine, maybe there's more to that place, maybe they're just exploring the place, maybe they're having fun right now, right?

Alan tried to think positively, ignoring the less enjoyable outcomes that his thoughts had presented upon him. The Chosen One can protect them, right? They couldn't be... dead right?

...

Thinking was not helping Alan, he had to do something. He couldn't return to the place to directly help them, nor can his cursor go through the wi-fi portal. His eyes drifted over to a window open on his PC.

Adobe Animate.

Alan's eyes widened as he realized something. He could draw another stick figure to look for them, and help them if they're in trouble! Alan's face brightened a bit, seeing hope for his stick's safety.

He quickly moved his cursor towards the Adobe Animate window, he selected a blue sky color, and he drew a hollow head stick figure. He selected the stick figure and turned them into a movie clip.

'ENTER NAME'

...

Alan stared blankly at the screen, his eyes then drifted to his right hand, that was holding his stylus. His hands backed away from the PC screen. Unpleasant memories of his past experiences with his creations started flooding to his thoughts, deleting victim shortly after their creation, enslaving The Chosen One for years, and assigning The Dark Lord to basically an impossible mission to destroy The Chosen One. He even remembered the moment he deleted the colored quadruplets before trying to delete Second.

His face grimaced as the past memories that haunt him till this day. But he needed to save and protect Second and RYGB now. If there was a chance, he would do anything, anything to make up for his past mistakes, and this is the least he can do now. He took some deep breaths, before finally typing in some letters from the keyboard.

'The Searcher'

Alan typed, he clicked enter and the stick figure, named The Searcher came to life. They looked around Adobe Animate's window before turning their attention to Alan. A text box appeared.

"How may I assist you, creator?"

They asked while looking at Alan, full of curiosity and admiration. Alan clicked the text box function, and typed a few words. "I need you to find a few stick figures... And please, just call me Alan."

The Searcher, or Search for short, nodded happily as Alan typed those words. They giggled and bounced in excitement before stopping and asking again. "May I have the details for the stick figures you are looking for, Alan?" They asked happily yet seriously, Alan then started typing and explaining the details of his stick figures.

Search listened -or more precisely- readed very well everything Alan typed, making sure she's not missing out on any details. An idea then came up on their head. "Alan... Do you have sample codes of the stick figures you are looking for?"

Alan stopped explaining and thought for a second. He started typing again, "Sample codes?"

"You know... There are base codes that make up a stick figure, usually every one has a special strand of code on them that makes them special! If I have some strand codes, maybe I could use them to track their original source, working something like a tracker," Search started explaining to Alan while opening up a window to give a glimpse of what it would look like to Alan. It basically consists information about a stick figure's personality, habits, and capabilities.

Alan paid attention to what Search was referring to, he thought about it for a moment before typing again, "Huh... didn't know about that before... Well, I think I do have some, you could take a look first if you want to, just to confirm."

Alan's cursor navigated towards the files while Search just followed behind, summoning a window platform to hop and fly on, one of the capabilities their power could do.
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Meanwhile in the outernet, the color gang and Chosen had returned to the house previously used by Chosen and Dark. It was in shambles, it looked like it could collapse any time. Chosen scratched the back of his head in slight embarrassment.

"Well, the house is trashed," Yellow stated, which successfully earned everyone's attention. "Yellow! Be more polite would you?" Second scolded while Yellow just shrugged a little. "I'm just stating facts that's it," He replied to Second.

"I mean... Yellow's not wrong..." Green mumbled while looking at the condition of the house, "Even if we do start fixing it I don't think it'll be quick, and it's far to broken... I don't think it's even safe to go near it," Blue added to Green's statement. "So... Where are we gonna stay?" Red asked hesitantly, trying not to ruin the already terrible mood that much.

A few moments of silent passed, no one spoke. "I have an idea..." Green said, not fully finishing the sentence, waiting for the other's reaction first. Once everyone turned their attention to Green, he continued, "I could contact Purple and ask her to... You know, stay at her place, along with King- err... Mr. Mango," He carefully chose his words, placing one of his hand at the back of his head, seeming to not be completely sure about this plan.

"Oh right they live in the outernet now don't they? I think they've mentioned it once or twice during their visits," Yellow spoke up, recalling his memories of the duo's visits. "Hey! Mr. Mango has a Minecraft portal in his basement right? Maybe we could find a portal that leads back to Alan's PC!" Red piped up in excitement, he wanted to go home really bad. "Isn't that supposed to be a secret...? Something along the lines of it being illegal or something..." Blue recalled his memories, Mango mentioning about the Minecraft portal being illegal by the laws or something.

"I guess we could try to contact them... We don't really have any other choices at the moment." Second stated his thoughts, he also peeked a little at Chosen, seeming to seek his approval for this idea. Chosen noticed the stare and huffed, he then spoke up, "For the moment it is the best choice we have, but can we really trust them?" He replied, not fully agreeing to the plan, but still agreeing. "Yeah we can, we're quite close!" Second assured Chosen and gesturing him to not worry about anything.

"I'll call them right now, then!" Green's eyes lit up a little, he quickly grabbed his phone from his pocket and moved away a little from the rest, they opened their screen lock and called Purple. "Please answer me please answer me please answer me..." Green said repeatedly, he cannot wait any longer. Meanwhile, the others are talking about their next move.

"I mean if Purple and Mr. Mango really does let us stay, we can't just keep 'taking' their supplies like food, water, and stuff while we don't return anything to them," Yellow stated, clearly worried about being a burden to Purple and Mango. "I'm sure they'll let us stay, and for the supplies part, we'll find a way, we always do," Blue said, assuring Yellow that everything will work out, Red and Second nodded at Second's words.

Chosen on the other hand... he still needs some time to fully process everything that happened, it's all just happening to fast for him. He occasionally looked around, a slight hope of Dark appearing somewhere, not trying to murder him and terrorize the internet, glimmering in his head. Honestly he missed Dark, it's probably only been an hour but it felt longer for Chosen. He always enjoyed Dark's company, minus the continuous planning to destroy the internet, of course.

Second notices Chosen's masked up anxiety and grief, he reaches out to him. "Chosen, are you okay?" Second said while clenching his fists out of worry, Chosen was slightly shocked, this kid really is observant. "I just need some time to... think and process everything," He replied while looking away from Second, indicating he doesn't want to continue on this topic. Second sees the gesture and only nods, not asking further questions.

Green then came back after some time, he looked happy. "Guys!! Purple and Mr. Mango will let us stay!" He half-screamed happily, passing on the information that had occured during his call with Purple. "Really?!" Red piped up in excitement, he bounced happily. The others, except for Chosen, laughed a little at Red's behavior, Chosen is starting to question why they aren't even phased by the fact that four of them had literally died a few moments ago, and one had to witness all of their death painfully, but he decides to just shrug it off since well, they're still kids so it's probably their normal nature. That's something Chosen never experienced himself so he'll just let it slide this once.

"Alright then, I guess we could grab a thing or two from Chosen's house, then we'll make our way towards Mr. Mango's house," Yellow spoke up, stating a plan that they had thought about a few moments ago while the others we're talking about other things. The others nodded in agreement.

"You kids can go ahead first... I'm not that comfortable being in the city, but I'll stay behind you all, also to make sure no one sneaks on us," Chosen said, crossing his arms once more while sighing a little.

"Huh? Oh sure, don't worry about us! And if you need help, you can just say it! And by the way, Purple and Mr. Mango's house is located outside of the city, so you'll have nothing to worry about!" Second replied to Chosen while giggling a little, Chosen responded with a slight smile. From the start Second just felt that he had some sort of connection to Chosen, making Second comfortable being around Chosen. Perhaps family? No that can't be, they may look similar, but Second does not possess powers like Chosen does, so they could not be related, that's impossible. Second brushed off the thoughts and turned their attention to Green. "Care to lead the way Green?" He leaned his head towards the tall buildings in the distance, Green snickered at Second before replying,

"Alright let's go."

Chapter Text

The night sky was crystal clear, stars glimmered in the night sky, as the sound of the waves crashing with the shore soothes your mind. Above was dozens and dozens of IP addresses for human PCs. One labeled ALANSPC was broken wide, making it easily accessible. A sky blue stick figure appeared from the hole, dropping down gracefully with a platform. The figure landed near the cliff edge.

"Whew, reopening that Wi-fi portal really was a hard task, good thing the other entrance wasn't sealed too," the figure, which is The Searcher, said while opening another window in front of them containing some codes. "At least I have these, should help me in looking for them," she said as she started pressing somethings on the window screen. "I just need to recalibrate the frequency of the code's original source tracking anddd," a beep sounded from the window, "Done!" They exclaimed happily as the tracker they had coded finally worked. "Transfer the signal trail to my vision and I'm all set," they said shortly before their eyes started to glow for a few seconds and returned to normal.

The Searcher then followed the colored trail to a house not far from where they came from. The house looked trashed, very trashed, wonder what happened here. "Weird, who's house is this?" They asked, despite no one being there with them to answer it. "...I guess a liiiittle sidetracking wouldn't hurt," they said as they started walking towards the house, they always had a big curiosity about basically everything.

They then walk closer towards the door and they turned the door knob slowly. The door opened slowly with a creaking sound as moonlight crept inside the dimly lit and empty house. Search looked around before taking a few steps forward and entering the door. Silence, nothing but silence. The only thing Search could hear was their own footsteps.

'Thud!'

They accidentally kicked a box containing some broken electronics on the floor. Search flinched a little, but quickly regained composure before shortly continuing to take some steps forward, but a sudden thud behind startled them. They looked at the source of sound and found an old camera, presumably from around the 2000s. They tried turning it on, but the lack of battery caused nothing to happen.

They looked back at the box, there was a thick book labeled 'Photo Album' inside, buried underneath all the broken electronics. They put the camera in their sling bag while kneeling down to pick up the photo album. There were many photos, lots of unnecessary photos for memory even. There's also some cute notes written in black and red ink by someone, they mentioned the names 'Cho' and 'Dark'. All the photos consisted of two hollow head stick figures, one black and one red. They look happy and nice, that's good.

They flipped through the photo album page by page, examining every photo with care. Then she reached the end, there was still a lot more unfilled pages, but the photos end here. They were a little upset that the photos end, but then they realized something.

If they were to assume that this photo album belonged to the owners of this house, then... what happened here? Why is the house trashed? Where are they now? Are they okay?

They then stood up and walked towards a room nearby from where they were before, inside was a laptop on a desk. Out off curiosity they turned on the laptop, and browsed quickly through the files.

"What the hell happened here?" They said as they stood in front of the laptop with a concerned look. What they saw on the computer was dozens and dozens of blueprint files for weapons of mass destruction. Some were sketches for a spider shaped robot called 'The Virabot' which were quite menacing. They took a few steps back, then suddenly they heard a crack from the ceiling.

"Oh-uh."

The cracks quickly grew larger and spread all across the house, then the house started to collapse. Search quickly summoned a window above them, protecting them and the desk from being buried in debris. They grunted a little as they tried to keep the window above them balanced to prevent debris from crashing on them directly.

After a few seconds, everything settled down and it was safe to move. Search removed the window and patted on some parts of their clothes to get rid of some dust from sticking on them.

"That was close," they huffed and stared back at the desk with the laptop nearby, it was still in one piece, just a little dusty. ...Okay maybe not a little. "At least that's one good thing to come out with the owners not being here, I think, they wouldn't be able to see this mess..." they scratched the back of their head, looking at all the scattered debris around them. "And with this thing saved, maybe I can find out more about them later, now, back to searching!" They said as they held the laptop close to them. And so they continued to follow the tracks that are visible on their vision towards the city.
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"Are we there yet??" Red groaned.

"Red, you've said that like a million times already, I'm not liking a million and one," Blue replied to Red's complaints.

"Well, by the location that Purple sent me, we should be near by now," Green replied while looking at the map directions on his phone.

"Are you sure we're not lost?" Asked Yellow skeptically to as he observed the scenery around. They've been walking for quite some time, it's nighttime already. Now they're walking in some kind of small village, the buildings here are really small and short compared to the ones in the city. And the lack of public lights makes it hard to see.

"Wha- are you doubting my navigation skills?!" Green piped up and stopped his tracks.

"Well we've been walking for hours! Do you even know how to read a map?" Yellow's tone rised up as he crossed his arms on his chest.

"Well-" Green spoke up again, before it was cut off by Blue.

"Hey hey! No need to fight okay? Right now out situation is not the best, but if we stick and work together, things might work out for the better," Blue stopped their quarrel before it would get out of hand.

"Blue's right, our priority now is getting to Mr. Mango's house for shelter, we don't know anything about this place and the dangers around here," Second spoke up, backing up Blue.

"...Fine," Green and Yellow replied in unison, then they continued walking.

Meanwhile from behind, Chosen followed silently. He never stopped looking down ever since they went to the city, he also hasn't spoken a word. Second looked at Chosen worriedly. Second who was beside Red before, slowed down a little to match with Chosen's pace.

"Hey, um Chosen, are you okay...?" Second asked, it's unusual for someone to be this silent.

"...Yeah I just need some time to... think," he replied, a little hesitant, but certain enough.

"If you say so..." Second speed up and catched up with his friends again, leaving Chosen alone to think once more.

"Hey guys! Over here!" A voice called from the side, everyone turned to look for the source. They saw a stick figure standing in front of a house waving at them, it was Purple!

"Purple!" Green shouted and quickly ran to Purple, giving her a tight hug.

"Whoa, Green! A little to tight here," Purple exclaimed, trying to breath from Green's tight hug.

"S-sorry, I just missed you, and well... A lot has happened, you know, since the uh, Minecraft incident," Green let go of the hug and rubbed the back of his head.

"Heheh yeah," Purple laughed awkwardly a little.

"Hey, Purple!" Red said, greeting Purple, followed by the rest of the gang.

"Hi Red, Yellow, Blue, Second, and...?" She titled her head slightly as she saw Chosen behind Second.

"Oh! Uhm, that's Chosen, uhhh how do I explain this... But don't worry! He's a nice guy," Second explained to Purple, followed by a huff of agreement from Chosen. Purple was confused, but she trusted what Second said. If Second says he can be trusted, then Purple will believe that.

"Ah you're all here," another voice spoke up, a figure appeared from inside the house. It's Mango Tango, previously called King or Orange, but he didn't want to be called King again, and Orange was kind of confusing with Second around.

"Hi, Mr. Mango," the sticks said in unison, minus Purple and Chosen. Chosen just nodded silently.

"You all must be tired, come in," he gestured the group to come inside. The group went inside and Mango closed the door behind them, preventing the night coldness from coming in. Once the group settled down, they started chatting a little.

"So what happened now?" Purple asked with a teasing manner as they bumped Green's shoulder a little. "Wouldn't be 'normal shenanigans' if it got you stuck here, I mean your 'normal shenanigans' aren't even 'normal'," she shrugged her shoulders.

"Hey!" Green chuckled as he heard Purple's comment. "But yeah, a lot happened this time, I'm not sure where to start..." Green's expression saddened a little as he said that, he wasn't sure how to say that he 'died' today to Purple, he doesn't even know the full story, it's all... fuzzy.

"You okay Red?" Blue asked to Red as he sat next to him in the sofa, giving him a cup of water.

"Yeah just, tired." He accepted the cup and huffed. "Today's wild," Red chuckled slightly, not knowing how to react exactly.

"You know what? Nothing a game of uno won't fix!" He said proudly to Red as he handed a stack of uno cards to Red.

"Y-you brought our uno cards?! Since when??" Red stood up with excitement, Blue had brought their cards this whole time!

"Hehe, I knew it would come in handy," Blue snickered. "Green, Purple, Yellow, Second, come join us!" Blue called out to the rest, earning chuckles of excitement from the rest.

Meanwhile across the living room, at the dining room, Chosen sat alone. His mind is currently replaying everything that has happened today. He keeps hearing Dark's voice, his laughter, his teasings, Chosen knows well how his best friend and brother would act.

"Hey kid, you okay?" A voice startled Chosen, snapping him out of his thoughts. Oh, it's just Mango. Chosen doesn't respond. Mango pulls out a chair nearby and sat down. "...Look kid, I don't know really who you are, where you came from, or what happened to you now, but if you need someone to chat, consider me an option. You look like you need someone to talk to," Mango said as he offered a smile to Chosen.

"...Maybe someday," Chosen responded. Mango and Chosen then turned their attention towards the CG and Purple playing uno in the living room.

Red placed a wild card onto the stack of cards. "Blue, remember that time whe-" Red was about to say when he cut off his words.

"Green!! I said blue to call out to Blue! Not answering blue for the wild card!!" Red protested to Green, who just placed down a blue 6 card onto the stack of cards.

"You already said 'blue', can't change the color to green," Green snickered at Red's protests, he had planned this comeback ever since Red beat him 2 months ago with the same technique.

"How do you guys play uno without getting into a fight..." Purple questioned the CG's antics.

"You'll get used to it," Second said as he rubbed Purple's back.

Chapter Text

It's been a few days since the showdown incident, the group had been staying well in Mango's house. Sadly the Minecraft portal in Mango's basement was glitching a little due to the lack of usage and power source, Mango concluded that it's very risky and not safe to enter the portal, making the group extend their stay to who knows when.

Today, rain poured down hard on the Outernet, the weather news said that a potential storm could form. Citizens were appealed to be alert and reduce activities outside if possible. It's been raining hard since afternoon to evening.

"Has the weather always been rainy like this in the Outernet? Or does it have seasons too?" Yellow asked to Purple curiously, whilst looking out the window. "I hope Mr Mango is okay, he's been out for around half an hour to buy groceries," he added.

"Oh, the weather hasn't been this rainy actually. I suppose we do have seasons, but there isn't much difference between seasons, maybe just easily noticable details like snow on winter, dry leaves on fall, etcetera," Purple explained, placing down the tray of cookies on the dining table. "He'll be fine, he always has. Maybe he's just being careful and taking things slow," Purple reassured Yellow's concerns. "Though maybe that green blast from a few days ago has something to do with the storm, but I don't really know," she turned to Yellow's direction, shrugging. If they paid enough attention to Chosen sitting on the couch, they could've noticed that he was slightly interested on the topic. The others didn't bother much, they chatted about other things in the living room.

"Green blast?" Yellow asked again, not interested in the weather talk anymore, he stood up and walked to the dining table, grabbing a cookie to munch on.

"Yeah a green blast, it was so powerful, it was also everywhere on the news and gossips, happened a few days ago, a few hours before Green called me," Purple continued explaining to Yellow. "Rumor has it that it was a superpowered stick figure, a hero or some sort they say," she snickered at the thought of the rumors. "Eh well, I've seen da- er... Mr Mango nearly succeeding in destroying Minecraft so I'm not that surprised anymore, though I have to admit, it caused quite a lot of damage nearby," Purple half joked, ending her explanation.

"Interesting, I might have to check this out," Yellow stated, practically bubbling with excitement.

"Yeah sure, just don't get caught in trouble," Purple joked, knowing that her friend here would do even risky approaches to get what he wants, though at least Yellow still can think more logically than the others. "...By the way how did you guys end up getting stuck here anyways?" Purple asked, making the situation more serious. She motioned Yellow to the living room where they could join the others, to which Yellow responded by following Purple to the living room.

"Well, it's quite a long and complicated story, I don't even know where to start," Yellow scratched the back of his head, trying to find a perfect start to the story.

Blue, who had been listening a little to Yellow and Purple's conversation joined in. "We could help, multiple perspectives could make the story more complete," they motioned to the rest of the group, now catching up on the conversation.

"Yeah, story telling time!" Red exclaimed, earning light chuckles from everyone (except Chosen, who has been sitting still on the couch for 15 minutes).

"Hm, maybe we should start from that morning?" Second joined in, proposing a starting point of the story.

"Yeah that could--" Green was about to speak when-

CRACK!

A loud lightning flashed from the storm, making some jolt and cover their ears. Everyone slowly opened their eyes, only to be met with a dark [heh] room.

"Darn it the lights are out," Purple muttered as she stood up, turning her phone flashlight on. "I'll light up some candles," she said to the group, taking a few steps to the kitchen.

"I'll go help," Green said, following her with his own phone flashlight, earning a nod from Purple.

"I hope Mr Mango is okay," Red said as they looked out of the window with a worried look.

"Can't get a call to him, the signal is down too," Second frowned, looking at their phone.

"Your vision, Yelly?" Blue asked Yellow with concern.

"Yeah fine, just a little blurry," Yellow said as he took off his glasses and cleaned them with a handkerchief. "And don't call me with that silly nickname, it's embarrassing," he put on his glasses again, landing a playful smack on Blue's arm.

"Alright alright okay," Blue laughed as he patted Yellow's shoulder.

"Where did we put the matches..." Purple searched for some matches inside the lower kitchen cabinet while Green held his flashlight behind to shine Purple's vision.

"Maybe you ran out of them?" Green asked.

"Maybe."

"Well that sucks."

Meanwhile in the living room Second shifted to sit on the couch when he hit something. "Ah! Chosen I didn't see you there," Second immediately stood back up and turned to face Chosen. "You know... because you're basically invisible in the dark," he scratched the back of his head, laughing sheepishly.

"...It's okay," Chosen replied flatly, he's basically used to Second's clumsiness now. "Well..." Chosen spoke up again, shortly before opening his palm in front of him and Second. Second stared confused, he jolted back a little as a small bright flame emerged from Chosen's palm.

"Whoa...! Cool!" Second shouted out in fascination. "Bright, and warm," Second smiled a little at the sight. Yellow swore he saw a faint smile appear on Chosen's face for a moment.

"What's going on there... oh MY STICK-" Purple exclaimed in panic as they saw the flame. "Are you okay?! Is that a fire??" She immediately ran to the living room frantically, eyes darting between Chosen and the fire with wide eyes.

"Oh yeah we haven't told you have we...?" Yellow sweatdropped as he looked to Purple.

"Huh maybe now's the right time to explain everything to Purple?" Blue laughed and asked to the group.

"As much as I hate to repeat all of this again to Mr. Mango, I guess we should," Green shrugged and crossed his arms, leaning to a nearby wall. Purple still looked at the flame in Chosen's hand with concern and perhaps a little fascination.

"Alrighty then take a seat! This is gonna be quite a long story..." Red started, scanning the room to look at everyone while gesturing an empty spot on the ground next to him.
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"...That's... Wow... Okay..." Purple managed to blurt out with a disbelief look. "Well, I guess knowing you guys I shouldn't be surprised anymore," she sighed. "But let me get this straight, you guys were minding your own business when a robot spider thing came to your PC and attacked you. So he, The Chosen One, suddenly came out of knowhere, beat the thing, went through a portal, and the first thing you thought about is follow him?!" Purple shouted out to the CG, scolding them like a mother. Chosen surprisingly finds this kind of funny to watch, though he keeps his stoic expression.

"More or less," Second let out an awkward laugh, the rest of the CG averting their gazes.

"I can't believe you guys- ugh," she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Not to mention you said you all literally died?!"

"W-well..." Green tried to force a confident smile, but is betrayed by his shaky voice. As much as Chosen would like to correct that only RYGB died and not Second too, he stopped remembering the fact that he would need to elaborate on Second's awakening part.

"I swear your human- or Alan I guess is his name, needs to supervise you much tightly..." Purple flashed a concerned smile on her face as she sighed. Before she could continue to scold the CG, a knock on the door can be heard.

"Oh! That must be Mango!" Purple quickly stood up and rushed to the door. She happily opened it but...

It wasn't Mango...?

Chapter Text

After an.. interrogation by Purple (she keeps denying that it is one), the stick figure in their front door introduced themself as The Searcher, or Search for short. Though a bit intimidated by Purple's glares as she threw questions at them, they still answered honestly nonetheless. It's not like they have anything to hide anyways.

They made their objective clear as day : Find the color gang and bring them back to Alan's PC. The color gang were skeptical at first, but I guess the hollow head was enough to prove the innocence and truth in their words.

Though it was interesting that Chosen left mid interrogation, he said he needed some fresh air.

Of course they let him out, I mean, the storm has quite calmed down (thankfully the lights had gone back on too, so Chosen wouldn't have to keep his fire as a light source), and everyone in the room knows Chosen can take care of himself.

..right?..

Anyways, Search intended for them to return to Alan's PC right then and there, but Seconds insisted that they should wait for Mango to return and say goodbye (and thank you) to him as well. What kind of guests would they be to leave without saying anything?

And so they waited, and it didn't take long before the front door opened revealing Mango.

Mango entered the house, shutting the door behind him. "Sorry I took long.. got caught up in the storm and.. who's this?" He looked at Search with a slightly wary look, but if Purple let them in then he trusts them, at least for now.

"The Searcher, or Search for short, nice to meet you, Sir," Search replied to Mango rather quickly, Mango raised an eyebrow.

"Is the criteria for being your friends is having odd names? ..No offense," He joked, the others let out a good laugh. Second looked to the side with a pout, Mango really liked teasing him for his rather odd name (I mean, "The Second Coming" as a name isn't very normal, even for sticks), but at least he isn't alone now. "Speaking of odd names, where's Chosen?" Mango asked again, a bit more seriously this time.

Red quickly chimed in, "he left to get some fresh air!"

"Hm, so that was him," Mango said, before the others could ask, he quickly explained himself. "I saw him flying towards the cliff when I was on my way back from the convenience store, I think he just needs some alone time," he reassured everyone that there wasn't a thing to worry about Chosen. (Though Search felt like they were being left out on this, they didn't complain and just went on with it.)

"I'm seeing that we're ready to go now?" Search asked again, they were sidetracking. Though Yellow saw them a bit impatient and rushing, Blue reminded him of the fact that they were most likely a newly born stick with only one current objective in life, that was enough to cool Yellow down.

And so, with a final goodbye and thank you to Mango and Purple, the color gang and Search went on their way back to Alan's PC. Though on their way back...

"Ohh look look! Flying motorcycles!" Red pointed to the sky excitedly. To everyone's surprise, there were 4 flying vehicles soaring between the tall buildings of the Outernet, they stopped for a while to watch.

"Are they.. chasing something?" Yellow spoke up, trying to make out what they were chasing. It was hard to make up what it is because it's going to fast, but it was obvious that the thing blasted fire.

And whatever it is, it shot a laser beam to one of the vehicles as some sort of self-defense, but it ricocheted to the ground, nearly hitting the color gang and some other passerbys.

"Woah! That was close!" Green yelped, he was the one closest to where the laser had hit, he barely had managed to dodge.

"We better get out of here!" Blue declared to which everyone agreed by running.

Though, Second kept trying to figure out what was the thing that was being chased. It had fire, it flies, it can shoot laser beams and..

Wait a minute.

Aren't those Chosen's powers..?

Second skid to a halt, his shoes making a slight screeching sound against the ground that made the group focus at him. "Guys I think that's Chosen!" He shouted in panic as he pointed at the thing being chased, the others quickly catching on to what he meant.

"W-wait- I think it is!" Yellow muttered out as they fixed their glasses, squinting his eyes to try and confirm that it is Chosen.

"We need to help him!" Second ran straight back to where the commotion was happening, the others following suit. Search could only follow in confusion as they hesitantly catched up too. They clearly really know who this Chosen stick figure is, but they do know that they have to do what's right and save a fellow stick in need.

Their objective can wait, Chosen needs help.