Chapter Text
This realm is a prison, designed to cycle its victims through death and misery, over and over. A being such as 1x1x1x1, who has been brought here to orchestrate those deaths, should find a place like this quite tolerable. Yet recently she has been struck be a problem, one that has caused much frustration and fury: the survivors have been evading her much more easily lately. Even her accursed creator.
They hate this. They hate those survivors. They hate the being that put them in this realm to begin with. Had it not crippled their power to such a degree, Shedletsky's pitiful life could be put to an end in a thousand different satisfying ways, but no. He lives. And 1x1x1x1 hates that.
He curses the name of the being that rules this realm, threatening to find a way to end its pathetic existence.
Oh, but poor 1x1x1x1, you have no power here. All your hissing and snarling means nothing on the ears of the being beyond your reach.
But your arrogance does.
So perhaps it is time for it to put you in your place.
And it always knows the best ways to torment its victims.
The round ended with another frustrating failure, 1x1x1x1 letting out a loud snarl of annoyance as a tripmine sets off, right before it can drive its sword through that damn robot's chest. She was so close to death, how could it fail now?
The darkness that momentarily surrounded him dissipates as quickly as ever, and 1x1x1x1 plans to make a swift exit, to find something- or someone- he can let his frustrations out upon.
But something is wrong.
Actually, a lot of things are wrong.
Firstly, they are not in a location that is familiar to them. The building is too clean, well structured, and there is a lot of unfamiliar faces passing by them (though none seem to take notice, they all head inside the building until the outside is empty). The grass beneath their feet feels well kept too, like someone actually remembers to tend to the vegetation that grows around them.
Speaking of feet, why do they have more of them? And why are the people around them so giant?
1x1x1x1 looks down at her feet and- why are they so… furry? They look a lot like what Guest 666's might look like if the hairs of their body grew out more.
What has happened to her…?
"A cat…?" A familiar voice exclaims, quietly.
1x1x1x1 looks over to the building and sees a certain burger-wearing survivor stood there, staring across at it. That annoying man, the one who seems to evade it so effortlessly; it should draw its sword and- wait, where did the daemonshank go?
The man gets a little closer; he just thinks the cat is wandering aimlessly as it spins around, unaware that it is searching for a weapon to bring his demise.
"Here, kitty kitty…" The man whispers, extending a hand out to 1x1x1x1.
How dare he! Does he not know who he faces! He should cower before her, as he would usually on the field of battle! 1x1x1x1 will not stand this indignation!
1x1x1x1 lashes out at his hand with on of his front legs, and something rather peculiar happens. One of the claws in his foot detaches from his body and flies forwards, striking the man through the chest. He stumbles forwards- more like gets dragged forwards- and nearly collapses in front of 1x1x1x1. He lets out a small gasp of pain, as the bindings that had momentarily secured his body relinquish him, and the pop ups that filled his vision fade into nothingness.
Entanglement.
Turns out 1x1x1x1 doesn't need his swords after all.
"1x1x1x1…!" The man exclaims in shock.
1x1x1x1 had expected his to flee, to scream for help, to beg and cower as he is so known for doing.
But he does none of those things.
Instead, he runs forwards and grabs 1x1x1x1, lifting her up into the air effortlessly. She strikes at him in rage, and a his escapes her throat- and that doesn't sound right at all. Has the ruler of this realm destroyed her vocals? Nevertheless, the man turns and runs, down a path, ignoring the many scratches that 1x1x1x1 leaves on his arms.
He eventually arrives at a small building, where he shoves 1x1x1x1 under one arm as he fumbles in a pocket for something. This position displeases 1x1x1x1 even more than the last, but it does give it prime access to his organs, does it not? So it tries to stab its claws deep into his stomach- and that didn't go nearly as deep enough… Bothersome.
Something jingles in the man's pocket, and he pulls it out: a set of keys. They fit into the lock and he opens the door to the building and hurries inside, giving the door a good kick in order to shut it.
He takes a few paces into the small building, which at a glance would appear to be his home, before taking 1x1x1x1 in both his hands and holding them out in front of him.
"What happened to you? How did you get here?" He asks in quick succession, still ignoring the many cratches that 1x1x1x1 was littering his arms with.
1x1x1x1 wants to demand he put him down, but the only thing that leaves his mouth is another hiss. What is going on…?
"Wait. Nod for yes, shake for no. Do you understand me?" The man asks.
1x1x1x1 finally gives up on the assault of the man's arms.
A stupid question. 1x1x1x1 is a higher being than the mortal man, of course they understand language, they'd tell him that themself if their voice wasn't failing them right now. Must they really comply with his demand?
Narrowing its eyes, 1x1x1x1 gives the man a singular, slow nod of its head.
"Oh my god, oh my god, ok. Cool. Right." The man breaths out, and why does that seem so shocking to him? "Right, and you are definitely, one hundred percent 1x1x1x1, right?"
Another stupid question. 1x1x1x1 gives the same response as last time.
"Ok, ok, cool, and, er, have you, erm, seen yourself recently?"
1x1x1x1 pauses, then gives a single shake of its head.
"Ok, well, er, lemme show you…"
The man turns and walks towards a door- not the one the one they had entered from, a different one. He places 1x1x1x1 under one arm again and begins rubbing his hand along the wall of the adjacent room. He finds his mark, and flips a light switch on.
It's a little bathroom. He walks inside and holds 1x1x1x1 up to a large mirror that hangs above a sink.
The form that the man is holding is not one that 1x1x1x1 recognises. It is small, and covered in black fur, with a tail swishing behind it. Quite skinny too, you can see a ribcage inside the furry little body. The only thing that 1x1x1x1 would say even still resembles the 3d form it usually takes is the solid red eyes that the tiny beast has.
"You're a cat." The man says matter-of-factly, even if he himself still seems a little bewildered by this outcome.
And the wail that leaves the cat is so loud that the man drops it to the floor.