TE:R Adventures: The Beginnings (3/3)
WRITER - TURTLEDOODLE1
COVER ARTIST - VIDD03K
EDITOR - ADDY
“Every
story has its beginning. Some are happy, some are sad and some… some are quite
interesting.”
It
was a strange day on Planet Perdiah. After their defeat at the hands of Team
Bushra and Array, the Rascals were all in a bad mood. Some took it far better
than others though. They had to get back to the mainland to plan their next
move. After a few hours of travelling, they came across The Mountain That Never
Ends. Markus found the name unnecessarily long but rolled with it. There was no
other path to use besides this mountain. Despite all the rumors surrounding the
mountain, Markus told Murray to continue driving.
The sooner we get out of this place, the better.
Markus starts
laughing to himself and the two start worrying. Suddenly, Markus hits the side
of the truck with brute force which makes Murray stop the truck with fear in
his eyes.
The three continued
their trip for another few hours. Markus was starting to run out of patience.
Before Murray could
show Markus what was wrong, Murray takes a hard turn to the right and stops the
truck in an instant. Markus was able to hold onto the bars, but Joyce wasn’t so
lucky.
Before Joyce could
finish her sentence, the other two noticed what Murray was referring to. A
giant crystal was blocking their path back to the mainland. But it wasn’t like
the one they encountered all those days ago. This one was glowing, like it was…
activated by something.
The three suddenly heard
the sound of a lightning strike. Not too long after, heavy rain began.
Markus wanted nothing
to do with this place any longer. The constant bickering of the other two was
already bad enough. But he also knew how dangerous the road would be with the
storm on the horizon. He took a deep breath and sighed afterwards. He already
regretted his decision.
Flash cut to half an
hour later, Joyce and Markus were preparing their stuff to rest while Murray
was still busy building a small wall to protect themselves from the storm
outside.
Joyce took off her
hat and glasses and proceeded to rest. The second she laid down, she instantly
fell asleep and started snoring very loudly. Markus looked at the still awake
Murray and chuckled.
And so, the Rascals
went to sleep. Nothing too eventful has happened for the few passing hours
aside from the still awake Murray thinking to himself. It had been so long
since he could rest like this. "Why am I still doing this?", he
thought. From the day he joined Hood, all he wanted was to live in peace. And
serving Hood at his own pace felt like the best thing he could have done. Even
though he knew that Hood had terrible plans for Perdiah, he still thought he
was doing the smart thing... at the time. Now however, he really regretted that
decision. After the Xtress war, he didn't know what to do. It was either
handing himself over to the MPC or... running away from the inevitable. Because
why would they show him any mercy after everything that has happened?! It just
felt like an impossibility to him.
He was shocked to
find out that the blonde kid he met the other day was hanging out with MPC2
members. If a loner like him could get accepted by MPC2... why not him? At the
same time, he didn't want to leave Markus' side. Despite everything, he was
very nice and kind to him after all. And Joyce was... well, Joyce. He was
unsure about what to do so he decided to close his eyes and try to sleep. But
it didn't take too long to notice that something was off about this cave. A
light started covering Murray's face which made him wake up and start looking
around.
No response. Murray
was confused and got up to see what was causing the lights. But when he saw the
source of the light, Murray was appalled.
Murray never saw his boss this shocked before. He looked like he was questioning everything about his life.
While Murray went to
wake Joyce up, Markus was standing there, still not sure if this was reality.
Joyce started looking
for her glasses and then got up. She looked at what the other two were babbling
about only to see a glowing grey door in front of them.
Joyce frowns and
watches as the other two go back to bed. She couldn’t believe the two were
willing to give up so fast. Who knew what was on the other side of this door.
There could have been new materials in there to create more potions for
herself… She couldn’t resist the temptation.
Before Markus could
talk her out of it, she was already gone.
Murray looks at the
door and gulps. There was no going back.
“Let’s see what’s on
the other side!”
After stepping into
the door, everything went blank. Markus thought this truly was the end. Until…
Murray helps Markus
get up and both of them start looking around. They were inside some sort of
white colored cube shaped room. Definitely not what Markus was expecting to see
here.
The two walked
straight for what felt like eternity until they found a locked door. It was a
grey door, just like the one they came from, except this one was broken apart.
Meanwhile, Joyce was
having the time of her life, running through so many different pocket zones,
and collecting materials she never saw on Perdiah before for her future
potions. She encountered a zone full of water, another one which was just a big
jungle. She found those two boring but the rest of the zones she travelled were
amazing. She was surprised to find most of the doors were already open by the
time she entered the Pocket Dimension. Like someone had already been here. She
was still pissed that the rest of her team were such cowards though. This place
was amazing! She was so excited to brag about her findings to them when she got
back. For now, though, she just wanted to continue having fun. Before she entered
the next zone, she noticed another door on the other side of the passage. It
had a different appearance compared to all the other doors she saw. It was a
fully black door with vines covering some parts of it. She decided to take a
peek inside for the possibility of finding more rare materials.
When she first
entered the zone, she was confused. This just looked like an ordinary zone like
the rest of the zones she previously entered. It was a pretty standard swamp
with nothing too out of the ordinary. But something was still off. It was quiet
… a little TOO quiet. She walked around a bit and then started collecting.
There were so many interesting materials in here, new types of flowers, acorns
and so much more. She wasn’t even sure her potion bag would be enough to carry all
this back. She got up and shook a nearby tree for new types of fruit. Instead,
a crow jumped out of it and started attacking Joyce. But she was able to defend
herself easily. She shooed the crow away and then continued her collecting. Little
did she know that an unknown figure was watching her from the shadows this
whole time.
The crow that just
attacked Joyce lands next to the mysterious figure.
The mysterious figure
shapeshifted into a crow herself and then flew alongside Loi to continue
watching Joyce as she cluelessly continued collecting new materials. After she
was done, Joyce started looking for the exit of the zone. But when she got to
the other side of the zone, she noticed something very unusual. The exit door…
was not there. Joyce was rightfully confused, the other zones always had a door
on the other side of them. To not panic, she took a deep breath and went back to
her tracks. Something fishy was going on here.
Joyce looked all over
the place, just to find some sort of clue on getting out of here. But then
suddenly, she stopped in her tracks and looked next to her. She never explored
the swamp waters. She didn’t care about getting dirty, but she obviously didn’t
want to deal with the consequences. She sat on top of a nearby rock and started
brewing a new potion. The mysterious figure was fascinated by Joyce’s skills.
She continued keeping an eye on Joyce.
After the potion was
done, Joyce got up and threw the potion beneath her boots. The boots started
glowing pink. The mysterious figure was confused but intrigued about this
revelation. Joyce walked towards the water and then smirked when she was able
to walk on water. She put her arms on her back to relax and continued exploring
the zone.
Joyce suddenly looks
behind her and notices the shadow figure disappear for a split second. Joyce
was starting to worry but for real this time. “What WAS that thing?!”, she
thought to herself. She tried to trick herself into thinking she was just
imagining things and continued her trip.
After a while, Joyce
noticed a small tree house in the middle of the swamp. She was now confused.
Why was there a hut in this zone? There shouldn’t have been any men-made
structures in any of the zones… unless…
Joyce suddenly heard
a creaking sound behind her and threw her stun potion at it. Only to realize that
it was just a frog, now stunned.
No response from the
frog, as she expected. She chuckled and continued walking towards the house. It
was just a dumb zone, nothing in here could possibly hurt her! And even if they
tried, she could always show them who’s boss.
And there it was, the
house she had been looking for. She looked at the stairs and thought they were
lame so she quicky picked up a high jump potion and used it on herself. Why
bother, she thought. Instead of knocking on the wooden door, she slammed the
door wide open. When she entered, she noticed a bunch of bookshelves alongside
demonic symbols written on the walls. Joyce was starting to worry once again
but she kept quiet. In the midst of all those symbols, however, there was a
small school bag and a bed alongside it.
Joyce was getting
really spooked from the place, so she decided to leave the place. Suddenly, she
heard creaking sounds from outside the house and rushed quickly to the door to
close it shut.
Joyce suddenly feels
someone holding her from the shoulders.
Joyce quickly threw a
potion at the figure, but the figure blocked it and threw Joyce out of the
house. After the hit, Joyce quickly shook her head and got up to fight the
beast. The figure fully revealed herself to the ever so confused Joyce. The
figure was a lady wearing a green dress with a bunch of cards spinning around
her.
Joyce throws a stun potion at the mysterious figure, but she dodges it in a flash and throws a card at Joyce in return. Joyce was barely able to dodge the card and took a few steps back.
The figure suddenly
threw a card at Joyce and Joyce also dodges it at the last second.
No response.
Now it was Joyce’s
turn to be on the offensive. She started throwing potions at the figure, but
she was too fast. All her dodging was from sheer luck. She had to do coming
drastic… fast! Joyce threw a potion next to her and a fire shield covered her.
She could now plan things out. She noticed the figure being frustrated by her
and laughed at her in return. But suddenly, the figure dashed away from her and
started throwing cards around the shield. Joyce didn’t understand what the
figure was trying to do but even she was aware that it was bad news. Before
Joyce could process what was going on, a dark blast started appearing from the
area the figure planted as Joyce tried to keep her shield up. But… it wasn’t
strong enough. The dark blast started hurting her from every angle. The figure
took advantage of the situation and threw a card at Joyce which paralyzed her.
“I hate karma.”, Joyce thought to herself.
Joyce didn’t respond.
She was thinking of what to do in this situation. How could she ever escape
from this lady… she needed to stall for time.
While on their way to
the unknown, Marigold started humming a little tune all by herself. “Gosh, ah
wish ah could punch her in the face.”, Joyce thought. After a while, they
stopped their journey inside a nearby cave. Joyce hadn’t seen this cave before.
Did the witch purposefully hide this place from outsiders, who knew at that
point.
Marigold notices Joyce not paying attention to her, so she pulls out another card and throws it to her dried-up fireplace. Joyce still wasn’t interested. Marigold sits next to the fireplace. Joyce knew she had to appease the witch’s interests in order to have a shot at escaping.
In response, Marigold
starts chanting a spell as Joyce closed her eyes and braced herself for an
attack. But… nothing happened. She opened her eyes only to see that both she
and Marigold were now wearing pajamas. As much as he hated admitting it, it was
kinda comfortable.
Marigold makes a fist
and suffocates Joyce a tiny bit.
Joyce nods her head
and Marigold stops making a fist. She watches as Joyce tries to catch her
breath.
Joyce notices
Marigold becoming noticeably sad after her question. Joyce prepared herself for
another attack but instead, got an answer.
Marigold notices her
pet crow arriving at the cave and waves at him.
The crow nods.
Marigold listened to a series of loud caws while Joyce thought she was coo coo
crazy.
She listens to Loi again and looks back at Joyce.
Joyce was horrified.
“What were they even doing here?!”,she thought. She thought they were just
preparing for tomorrow. But Marigold was smiling from cheek to cheek.
Marigold snapped her fingers,
and both got back their usual clothes.
The other two Rascals
have been looking for Joyce ever since they entered the Pocket Dimension. Some
of the zones they went through were easy to get through while some were difficult
to manage. They were able to keep track of Joyce’s whereabouts by the missing
materials in the zones. And her tracks lead to here.
Meanwhile, Marigold
and the still paralyzed Joyce were watching the two from the shadows. Joyce
tried to scream but every time she tried, Marigold suffocated her more and
more.
The two also realized
the lack of a door in this zone and started panicking.
Marigold overhears
the entire conversation and waits there all silently until they were out of
sight much to Joyce’s surprise.
Joyce was going to
continue rambling until she noticed Marigold smiling once again. But this time,
it was different. She had so much resentment towards Joyce in her eyes.
Before Joyce could
understand what Marigold was talking about, Marigold started casting a spell
which covers her with purple smoke. When the smoke was cleared, Joyce was
confused but also shocked. There she was… Joyce herself staring back at another
Joyce in front of her.
Joyce was fuming from anger. She tried to move her body to attack her fake self but the spell was too strong. Marigold points at Joyce and makes her slam to the wall. Joyce was unconscious after the fact.
Loi suddenly arrives at
the scene and lands at Marigold’s left arm.
Marigold lets him go
and waves him one last goodbye. Afterwards, she picks up Joyce’s potion bag and
then hits herself very hard with a stick to make it seem like she escaped from
“an evil witch”.
The two followed the
screams and saw a limping Joyce trying to walk towards them.
Markus continues
looking around.
While Marigold
thought the plan was going perfectly, she didn’t account for one thing. Murray.
From the moment he saw her, he thought something was off. Pleading for help?
Not the passive aggressive tone? No bragging from her end? Something was wrong
but he wasn’t exactly sure what. He took a breath and thought to himself that maybe
it really was just Joyce showing vulnerability for once. He decided to make his
full judgement on “Joyce” later.
Marigold pretends to
create some sort of potion and then throws it to the ground which makes the red
door appear.
Markus enters the
door but before Marigold also did so, she noticed Murray still looking back at
the zone.
Murray didn’t say
anything but decided to follow the two from behind. Just as they thought the
trouble was over, everything went completely blank once again.
Marigold couldn’t
believe she was finally out of the pocket dimension after so many years. But
not only that, she now had two loyal friends. She had to hold herself from
crying out with happiness. Since Joyce’s main weapon was using potions to
attack, she could transform her cards into potions so she could keep up the
disguise. Everything was going perfectly! She looked back at the other two
helping each other get up.
“And so, the Rascals
were right back on schedule! Going on adventures, having fun and most
importantly… my journey finally began.”
To be continued in… JOYCE’S QUEST (ADVENTURES 4-6)
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