TE:R Adventures: The Beginnings (2/3)

WRITER - VIDD03K (SAM/NINIAN)

COVER ARTIST - HEXXED_OUT3

EDITOR - ADDY

It was a cloudy day at Town Unda, now Headquarters for the Crystal Kingdom. Some of the Crystal Knights were waiting for any orders from their Queen, except for one of them. She was constantly thinking about how some of the MPC members managed to escape, and she found their recruit rather interesting. He was all alone, sitting in the cafeteria all by himself, so she decided to strike up a conversation.

Hey kid, you're the new one, right?

Yeah.

I see.

She sits right next to him, much to the recruit's surprise.

You look awfully lonely, maybe you could use some company.

I guess, yeah.

Reserved much, aren't you?

I guess.

...Wow, you're kinda boring dude.

Oh, yeah?

Then what about you?

Maybe you have some super interesting life story!

Hmm… maybe I do, but maybe you don't care to listen.

Well what if I did care?

I guess I have no choice but to tell you about it!

You know Town Unda, right?

Hm… I think I've heard of it before, yeah.

Isn't it the Queen's headquarters?

Yep. That's where I used to live.

It was nothing more than a quiet little town far off from the big cities.

Until the Hoodsters started to attack, everything was pretty peaceful and, honestly, a little boring.

How did you manage to deal with the Hoodsters?

Well, lucky for me, I had some experience with swordplay and trustworthy co-workers!

It worked for a good while, until the attacks started getting overwhelming, to the point that we had to eventually evacuate from the town.

Fair enough, a bunch of other towns and villages fell the same way.

But since you're here now, you did come back, right?

Yeah, I did, and it was very interesting.

Now you caught my attention, I wanna know more about it!

Very well...

A few months back, after the Xtress war…

Aw… I hate this stupid forest…

Terry, how long do we have to keep going through it??

Don't worry, if this map is correct, we should be there in a few minutes.

What do you mean 'if this map is correct'???

Just trust me, will you?

Can you two stop shouting?

I thought I told you to keep a low profile!

Yes boss.

See? We're already here.

I don't wanna say I told you, but…

Shut up!

I'm sick and tired of walking!

The trio quietly walks around the surroundings of the town, to see if there's anything or even anyone. After searching all around, it's clear that there's nothing besides a few birds, so they decide to finally venture inside the town, only to be surprised by something never seen before.

Hey, why is that mushroom so big?

They're not normally that big, right?

No, Lydia, they're not.

I wonder why they're here though, there shouldn't be mushrooms this big in a place like this.

*walking closer to the mushrooms*

Would you look at that.

They're made out of crystals.

That's worrisome, how do we get rid of them?

I don't know, maybe we can smash them with something.

It's crystal after all.

Not sure boss, I don't think it's a safe idea.

Right as he says that Lydia picks up the first object she sees and hits the mushroom right away, but instead of destroying it, she bounces back from it.

...Nevermind.

Ow… how did that happen?

So I guess destroying it like that won't work.

Do you have any ideas?

While Clara and Terry try to think of anything, Lydia hears something far off in the distance. She quickly gets up and sees some smoke coming from the forest.

Hey, Terry, I think something just exploded over there.

Lydia, I think you're nuts…

Oh wait, you're right.

I'll go see what's up, you can try to help boss.

Okay! Be careful though!

As Lydia catches up with Clara, Terry steadily makes his way to where the explosion was spotted, and surely enough, he finds where it came from. Turns out some sort of rocket ship made its way to the forest; the machine was absolutely trashed in the impact, and oddly enough, there was no sign of a driver whatsoever.

Hmm… this is rather interesting.

I'll need to bring this back to boss, we might figure something out.

But right as he's about to pick up the rocket, he hears screaming from the town, it was not a good sign. However, whatever that creature is, surely it was something nobody would've expected to see…

A living trash can??

*kicking the creature*

Waaahhhh!!! I knew this was a bad idea!!!

While Clara tries to stop Lydia from getting herself hurt, Terry, who's finally reached the town, tries to attack the creature with his bow. Unfortunately, though, the little monster is way more agile than expected, thanks to its "arm" having a small wheel attached to it. It also absorbs any arrows Terry shot at it with its other arm, that was connected to a plastic bag, or something that looked like one.

That won't do… Lydia!

*still sobbing a little*

...Yeah?

Remember that axe you conveniently found on the floor?

* sniffs *

This one…?

Exactly!

Now follow me and let's trash that… thing!

...Yeah! Let's do this!!

The two chased down the monster, while Terry kept trying to shoot its head. Unsurprisingly, it avoided all their attacks, but as soon as it reached one of those crystal mushrooms, it placed one arm on it while trying to fend off the trio. It was unclear what it was trying to do, but they would never find out, as Lydia hit the creature on its head with her axe hard enough to defeat it for good. They would've expected it to just be knocked down, but as Lydia hit it, an enormous puff of smoke came from it, only to leave a regular trash can in its place.

Well, um… Hey, at least we won't have to deal with it anymore!

Daw… I wanted to see what it was going to do…

Phew… It's finally over…

This is exactly why I didn't want to involve you with this, you crybaby.

I'm not a crybaby!!!!

While Clara and Lydia keep arguing, Terry notices something's wrong with the mushroom, the one the creature laid its plastic bag look alike.

Girls? I think I know what it was trying to do.

Look at this.

...Maybe I shouldn’t have hit it like that…

The mushroom's falling apart, huh?

Slowly but surely it is, but now the thing is gone so we'll have to come up with something of our own.

Do you think you can somehow recreate that thing's arm?

I'd love to, but I don't know what it was made of, and even if I did, I have nothing to work with.

Well, that's a problem for another day, we have to rebuild this place from the ground up; it could fall apart any moment now…

I said, It could fall apart any moment now!

…Nevermind.

Um, boss?

Don't you think it's a little late for that?

Do you think we have a place to sleep in?

Well, I mean, there's still beds in the houses…

And right as she says that a piece of rooftop collapses, scaring the trio.

...I guess that's not an option then…

Even after the fight, there was one thing that Terry just couldn't get out of his mind; just what was that rocket thing back in the forest? It looked an awful lot like something the Hoodsters would build, but nobody was in it so what's the deal? He decides to go back to it, to hopefully get a better look at it this time around. Unsurprisingly, it was still there, though it stopped fuming like it did before. He looked all around it, even inside, but he just couldn't find anything, he thought that maybe Clara would know since she has more experience with Hoodster stuff. As soon as he's about to try to lift it, he hears something moving from behind the bushes. He looks around to see what it is, only to find nothing. He then turns back again to the rocket again, however the whole thing disappeared! With no trace left of it, he goes back to town, wondering whatever it could've been.

The trio worked tirelessly all night long to try and give the town a temporary fix, to make it more stable so that it could be inhabitable for the time being.

Hey boss!

Boss?

Oh, she passed out…

What an unforeseen event.

Who would've thought.

Maybe we didn't do enough to help her…

No, she just overworked herself like usual, just like you love to do so much.

*embarrassed*

Daww…

... Sigh… Come on now…

Anyway… We can't just let her sleep like that on the ground.

I'll make something for her to lie on, you can go rest!

You'll probably just end up sleeping too.

Excuse me?!

Back to the present;

Alright, you told me enough, just get to the end already!

If you let me finish!

Ugh… you're so lame.

Whatever, I know what happened to you, but what about the other two?

Y'know, the crybaby and the other guy.

Oh, them?

I'll just call them here.

* takes a breath *

TERYY, LYDIA, COME HERE!

Bushra saw the two of them running to their table.

What is it boss?

I was just talking about you two-

Woah, why are you so large??

Sigh… here we go again.

Boss, who is this guy?

It's the new recruit, we found him after the… uh… encounter with the MPC members.

Ooohhh, I see.

And why is he already bullying Terry?

Before Clara could reply, however, they heard a message coming from a set of speakers.

"CLARA SPADES, COME TO THE THRONE ROOM, WE NEED TO TALK."

Oh, guess duty’s calling.

I'll see you guys later, don't break anything.

She then makes her way to the Throne room, where her Queen awaits her. She didn't know whether it was anything important or not, but she was happy to be called by her, nevertheless.

END OF CHAPTER

(Fun fact: Lydia & Terry's designs/personalities were based on this drawing!)

FAN ART OF THE CHAPTER!

(Art by @trashyaddy_)

FAN ART OF THE CHAPTER!

(Art by @Zuuile)

FAN ART OF THE CHAPTER!

(Art by @Sonic32Super)

TER: WEBSITE COMING SOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!